English Reference

Word

ablator

Phoneticsab·la·tor

Definition

n. a substance or device that removes something, like heat or a layer of material, by wearing it away.

n. a substance or device that removes or wears away a material or heat through a physical or chemical process.

Examples

“The heat shield uses an ablator to protect the spacecraft.”

“Engineers tested a new ablator to see how well it could withstand the extreme temperatures of re-entry.”

“In the context of thermal protection systems, the ablator is designed to sacrifice itself by sublimating or melting, thereby carrying away the heat energy from the underlying structure.”

Examples

simple

“The heat shield uses an ablator to protect the spacecraft.”

contextual

“Engineers tested a new ablator to see how well it could withstand the extreme temperatures of re-entry.”

complex

“In the context of thermal protection systems, the ablator is designed to sacrifice itself by sublimating or melting, thereby carrying away the heat energy from the underlying structure.”

Etymology

From ablate + -or.

Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Word family

This entry

Level
C1 · Advanced
Frequency
Rare
Updated

Scan code

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English Reference