TRANSPIRATION

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does transpiration mean? 

• TRANSPIRATION (noun)
  The noun TRANSPIRATION has 3 senses:

1. the passage of gases through fine tubes because of differences in pressure or temperature

2. the process of giving off or exhaling water vapor through the skin or mucous membranes

3. the emission of water vapor from the leaves of plants

  Familiarity information: TRANSPIRATION used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TRANSPIRATION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The passage of gases through fine tubes because of differences in pressure or temperature

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural processes

Hypernyms ("transpiration" is a kind of...):

action; activity; natural action; natural process (a process existing in or produced by nature (rather than by the intent of human beings))

Derivation:

transpire (pass through the tissue or substance or its pores or interstices, as of gas)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The process of giving off or exhaling water vapor through the skin or mucous membranes

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural processes

Hypernyms ("transpiration" is a kind of...):

activity; bodily function; bodily process; body process (an organic process that takes place in the body)

Derivation:

transpire (give off (water) through the skin)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The emission of water vapor from the leaves of plants

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural processes

Hypernyms ("transpiration" is a kind of...):

biological process; organic process (a process occurring in living organisms)

Derivation:

transpire (exude water vapor)

 Context examples 

Greener plants are a likely indicator of increased plant growth and transpiration, but not a definitive one.

(New Study Shows the Amazon Makes Its Own Rainy Season, NASA)

The plants pump more water through transpiration, the process of water movement through a plant and its evaporation from leaves, to meet the calcium demand.

(Previously unknown mechanism causes increased forest water use, National Science Foundation)

Zero tillage is recommended to avoid high evaporation and transpiration in their plot.

(El Niño linked to widespread crop failures, SciDev.Net)

Scientist Rong Fu of UCLA, a leader of the new research efforts, published a paper in 2004 suggesting that increased evaporation of water from leaves — a process known as transpiration — might be the cause.

(New Study Shows the Amazon Makes Its Own Rainy Season, NASA)