hydrophile

plural hydrophiles

1. chemistryAny hydrophilic substance.
2. biologyAny organism that thrives in the presence of water.

   Hydrophiles usually retain flight capability because they must recolonize unstable habitats.

   1986, James Kenneth Liebherr, Cladistic Analysis of North American Platynini

comparative more hydrophile · superlative most hydrophile

1. Hydrophilic.

   [...] reacts with water to a minimum extent, by contrast with minerals of the smectite group, which are regarded as very hydrophile due to their labile, “mobile” structure.

   2000, Geological Quarterly

   3 more examples

   lt is difficult to produce an absolutely non-irritant vaseline. Lanolin (wool fat) is indeed clear and smooth but it is neither very hydrophile nor neutral, so that it cannot be mixed with basic substances such as zinc oxide without saponifying.

   1926, Ars Medici

   Partial dehydration of MetHb (by forming films at high relative humidities from solutions) produces a haemichrome structure of this molecule. These structural changes are prevented by binding the molecules to a very hydrophile dialdehyde - Sephadex carrier (DAS).

   1976, Studia biophysica

   They are very hydrophile, and hydration of the particles is a factor sufficient to make the colloidal system stable even in the absence of stabilizing electrolytes, i.e. when the particles have no electrical charge of their own.

   1982, Y.P. Mel'nik, Precambrian Banded-Iron-Formations, →ISBN, page 130