Meanings
plural intumescences
- uncountableThe process of swelling up or the condition of being swollen.
Synonyms: inturgescence, tumescence, inturgescence, swellage, turgescence, bloatedness, bloating, distension
- countableAn instance of such swelling.
...but there are other causes of change, which, though slow in their operation, and invisible in their progress, are perhaps as much superior to human resistance, as the revolutions of the sky, or intumescence of the tide.
1755, Samuel Johnson, A Dictionary of the English Language, page 10Synonyms: incrassation, tumescence, aposteme, incrassation, inturgescence, swelling, swollenness
Synonyms & antonyms
nounThe process of swelling up or the condition of being swollen.
nounAn instance of such swelling.
More synonyms by meaning
nounswelling up with blood or other fluids (as with congestion)
nounthe increase in volume of certain substances when they are heated (often accompanied by release of water)
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Cite this entry
intumescence. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/intumescence
“intumescence.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/intumescence. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “intumescence,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/intumescence.
Source: intumescence on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.