Congealing

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. The act of changing from a liquid form to a solid state involves cooling or the loss of mobility due to physical or chemical processes
2. The transition observed when a liquid becomes a solid as it loses heat or experiences other alterations in environment or composition
3. The process where a liquid changes into a solid or semi-solid state due to cooling or decreasing fluidity

Etymology: Congealing is the present participle of "congeal", which entered English in the Middle English period through Middle French "congeler" from Latin "congelare", meaning "to freeze together". The Latin word is built from "con-", an intensifying or combining prefix, and "gelare", "to freeze", which also gave English "gelid", meaning icy or very cold. The root sense stayed close to literal cold for centuries. A congealed liquid, such as blood or fat, is one that has stiffened as it cooled, and that concrete image remains the core of the word. Its figurative uses, such as a plan or a mood congealing into something firm, grew out of this physical sense of a loose mass setting into a solid one.

Synonyms: solidifying, coagulating, thickening

Antonyms: liquefying, melting