effluent
effluent Lexical Profile
effluent Game Scores & Validity
• noun
Liquid waste or sewage discharged into a river, sea, or other body of water, especially from an industrial plant or treatment facility.
"New environmental regulations require the factory to filter all chemical effluent before releasing it into the river."
A stream or river that flows out of a larger body of water, such as a lake, or branches off from a main river channel.
"The small river serves as the primary effluent of the mountain lake, carrying snowmelt toward the coast."
• adjective
Flowing out or issuing forth from a source, such as water from a lake or impulses from a nerve center.
"The hydrologist mapped the effluent streams that drained the alpine reservoir into the valley below."
Word Nuance & Usage
Do not confuse 'effluent' (liquid waste or outflow) with 'affluent' (wealthy or prosperous).
• Rhymes for effluent
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed in the mid-18th century from Latin effluens, the present participle of effluere ('to flow out'), formed from ex- ('out') and fluere ('to flow').