Library / English Dictionary

SWEAT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Use of physical or mental energy; hard work

Example:

they managed only with great exertion

Synonyms:

effort; elbow grease; exertion; sweat; travail

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

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

labor; labour; toil (productive work (especially physical work done for wages))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "sweat"):

struggle (strenuous effort)

difficulty; trouble (an effort that is inconvenient)

least effort; least resistance (the least effortful way to do something)

strain; straining (an intense or violent exertion)

exercise; exercising; physical exercise; physical exertion; workout (the activity of exerting your muscles in various ways to keep fit)

pull (a sustained effort)

application; diligence (a diligent effort)

overkill (any effort that seems to go farther than would be necessary to achieve its goal)

supererogation (an effort above and beyond the call of duty)

overexertion (excessive exertion; so much exertion that discomfort or injury results)

detrition; friction; rubbing (effort expended in moving one object over another with pressure)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Salty fluid secreted by sweat glands

Example:

sweat poured off his brow

Synonyms:

perspiration; sudor; sweat

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

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

secretion (a functionally specialized substance (especially one that is not a waste) released from a gland or cell)

Meronyms (substance of "sweat"):

H2O; water (binary compound that occurs at room temperature as a clear colorless odorless tasteless liquid; freezes into ice below 0 degrees centigrade and boils above 100 degrees centigrade; widely used as a solvent)

Derivation:

sweat (excrete perspiration through the pores in the skin)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Condensation of moisture on a cold surface

Example:

the cold glasses were streaked with sweat

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural phenomena

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

condensate; condensation (atmospheric moisture that has condensed because of cold)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Agitation resulting from active worry

Example:

he's in a sweat about exams

Synonyms:

fret; lather; stew; sweat; swither

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

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

agitation (a mental state of extreme emotional disturbance)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Excrete perspiration through the pores in the skin

Example:

Exercise makes one sweat

Synonyms:

perspire; sudate; sweat

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Hypernyms (to "sweat" is one way to...):

egest; eliminate; excrete; pass (eliminate from the body)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "sweat"):

swelter (suffer from intense heat)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Sentence examples:

Sam and Sue sweat

Did his feet sweat?

Also:

sweat off (lose weight by sweating)

Derivation:

sweat (salty fluid secreted by sweat glands)

sweater (a person who perspires)

sweating (the process of the sweat glands of the skin secreting a salty fluid)

Credits

 Context examples: 

A benign or malignant sweat gland neoplasm with apocrine differentiation.

(Apocrine Neoplasm, NCI Thesaurus)

A benign epithelial neoplasm arising from the apocrine sweat glands.

(Apocrine Adenoma, NCI Thesaurus)

Wit, lad, is a catching thing, like the itch or the sweating sickness.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Even now when I think of that nightmare the sweat breaks out upon my brow.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A person with anxiety may sweat, feel restless and tense, and have a rapid heart beat.

(Anxiety, NCI Dictionary)

A carcinoma with apocrine differentiation arising from the sweat glands.

(Apocrine Gland Carcinoma, NCI Thesaurus)

You never made anything in your own sweat.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

A morphologic finding indicating the alteration of the glandular acinar epithelial cells to apocrine sweat gland cells.

(Apocrine Metaplasia, NCI Thesaurus)

A non-metastasizing eccrine appendage sweat gland neoplasm.

(Benign Eccrine Neoplasm, NCI Thesaurus)

Apocrine glands in the skin and eyelid are sweat glands.

(Apocrine gland, NCI Dictionary)