calesce

C3A1L1E1S1C3E1
UK/kəˈlɛs/

verb

To undergo calescence; to become or grow warm; to heat up; to warm; to glow with heat.

Scrabble 11

Meanings

verbcalesce (third-person singular simple present calesces, present participle calescing, simple past and past participle calesced)

present singular third person calesces · participle present calescing · participle past calesced · past calesced

  1. obsoleterareTo undergo calescence; to become or grow warm; to heat up; to warm; to glow with heat.

    Now [warming it over the spirit lamp] here it is becoming yellow again, and that is all because its attraction of cohesion is changed. And what will you say to me when I tell you that this piece of common charcoal is just the same thing, only differently calesced, as the diamonds which you wear?

    1874, Michael Faraday, “Lecture II: Gravitation-Cohesion”, in On the Various Forces of Nature, London: Chatto and Windus, page 58
    1 more example

    23. Drops of Water. — In answer to E. J. Pond's query in Science for Jan. 20, it seems to me that the phenomenon is explainable in the same way as the related phenomenon of drops of water on a hot stove; […] The small drops that fall from the oar-blade will float a short time before calescing, even when no wind is blowing; […]

    1888 February 3, C. M. Wirick, Science, volume XI, number 261, page 62, column 2

Origin

  1. Latincalescere
  2. Englishcalesce

From Latin calescere.

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with calesce

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Cite this entry
APA

calesce. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/calesce

MLA

“calesce.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/calesce. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “calesce,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/calesce.

Source: calesce on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.