detergent

1. 1.

   a surface-active chemical widely used in industry and laundering

   Broaderwetting agent

   Narroweranionic detergentcationic detergentsodium lauryl sulphate
2. 2.

   a cleansing agent that differs from soap but can also emulsify oils and hold dirt in suspension

   Broadercleansing agent

   Narrowerdishwasher detergentlaundry detergentliquid detergent

1. 1.

   having cleansing power

   Synonymsdetersive

   Similarpurifying

Other forms of detergent

plural

detergents·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about detergent

What does detergent mean?

detergent means "a surface-active chemical widely used in industry and laundering". That is the primary sense; the word has 3 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in detergent?

detergent has 3 syllables: de-ter-gent. The stress falls on "ter". In IPA it is /dɪˈtɝdʒənt/.

What is another word for detergent?

Close synonyms include detersive. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is detergent a common word?

detergent is banded "Familiar" — widely understood, used when the subject calls for it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.