How do you pronounce vaporous?

The recorded pronunciation is /ˈveɪpəɹəs/.

Where does vaporous come from?

It is traced to Middle English.

vaporous

/ˈveɪpəɹəs/

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.81 in modern English

Syllables: va-por-ous
IPA: /ˈveɪpəɹəs/

Scrabble Score

Letters

Syllables

Unique Chars

Meaning

adj

Of or relating to vapour; also, having the characteristics or consistency of vapour.

adj

Breathing out or giving off vapour.

adj

Of a place: filled with vapour; foggy, misty.

adj

Of a thing: covered or hidden by vapour, fog, or mist.

adj

Lacking depth or substance; insubstantial, thoughtless, vague.

adj

Of clothes or fabric: thin and translucent; filmy, gauzy.

adj

Feeling melancholy; experiencing the vapors.

Example Sentences

"Hovv can darkneſſe be called a Maſſe? &c. No it cannot. Nor a thin vaporous matter neither."
"For the great rock has screened the westering sun / That still on plains beyond streams vaporous gold / Among the branches; […]"
"The wind began to rise and soon the vapourous mist began to eddy and whirl in wild confusion."
"O hatefull, vaporous, and foggy night, / Since thou art guilty of my cureleſſe crime: / Muſter thy miſts to meete the Eaſterne light, / Make vvar againſt proportion'd courſe of time."
"[W]e ſee that the very aire it ſelfe is never conglaciate nor frozen, nor hardened, conſidering that miſts, fogs and clouds are no congealations, but onely gatherings and thickenings of a moiſt and vapourous aire: for the true aire indeed vvhich hath no vapour at all and is altogether drie, admitteth no ſuch refrigeration as may alter it to that degree and heigth ^([sic])."
"Beneath is spread like a green sea / The waveless plain of Lombardy, / Bounded by the vaporous air, / Islanded by cities fair; […]"

Etymology

From Middle English vaporous, from Late Latin vapōrōsus (“full of steam”), from Latin vapor (“exhalation; smoke; steam, vapour”) (possibly related to Proto-Indo-European *kwep- (“to boil; to smoke, steam; aroma; strong odour”)) + -ōsus (suffix meaning ‘full of, overly, prone to’ forming adjectives from nouns). The English word is analysable as vapour + -ous. Possibly a doublet of hope. Cognates * French vaporeux (“misty, vaporous; filmy, transparent”) * Italian vaporoso (“flimsy, gauzy; fluffy; vaporous”) * Portuguese vaporoso * Spanish vaporoso (“airy; vaporous”)

Origin

Source language: Middle English

Word Breakdown

Root: *kwep-, vaporous, vapōrōsus, vapor
Suffix: vapour

Regional Pronunciation

American English: /ˈveɪpəɹəs/
British English: /ˈveɪpəɹəs/

Inflected Forms

more vaporous (comparative) most vaporous (superlative) vapourous (alternative)

Derived Forms

nonvaporous unvaporous vaporously vaporousness

Frequently Paired Words

vapography vaporability vaporable vaporarium vaporary vaporate vaporation vapored

Synonyms

halitous halituous vaporiform vaporlike vapourlike vaporose vapory vapoury aeriform aereous aerial airy

Antonyms

nonvaporous