solution Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a homogeneous mixture of two or more substances; frequently (but not necessarily) a liquid solution
    • he used a solution of peroxide and water
  2. noun a statement that solves a problem or explains how to solve the problem
    answer; solvent; resolution; result.
    • they were trying to find a peaceful solution
    • the answers were in the back of the book
    • he computed the result to four decimal places
  3. noun a method for solving a problem
    • the easy solution is to look it up in the handbook
  4. noun the set of values that give a true statement when substituted into an equation
    root.
  5. noun the successful action of solving a problem
    • the solution took three hours

WordNet

So*lu"tion noun
Etymology
OE. solucion, OF. solucion, F. solution, fr. L. solutio, fr. solvere, solutum, to loosen, dissolve. See Solve.
Definitions
  1. The act of separating the parts of any body, or the condition of undergoing a separation of parts; disruption; breach.
    In all bodies there is an appetite of union and evitation of solution of continuity. Bacon.
  2. The act of solving, or the state of being solved; the disentanglement of any intricate problem or difficult question; explanation; clearing up; -- used especially in mathematics, either of the process of solving an equation or problem, or the result of the process.
  3. The state of being dissolved or disintegrated; resolution; disintegration.
    It is unquestionably an enterprise of more promise to assail the nations in their hour of faintness and solution, than at a time when magnificent and seductive systems of worship were at their height of energy and splendor. I. Taylor.
  4. (Chem.Phys.) The act or process by which a body (whether solid, liquid, or gaseous) is absorbed into a liquid, and, remaining or becoming fluid, is diffused throughout the solvent; also, the product reulting from such absorption. ✍ When a solvent will not take in any more of a substance the solution is said to be saturated. Solution is two kinds; viz.: (a) Mechanical solution, in which no marked chemical change takes place, and in which, in the case of solids, teh dissolved body can be regained by evaporation, as in the solution of salt or sugar in water. (b) Chemical solution, in which there is involved a decided chemical change, as when limestone or zinc undergoes solution in hydrochloric acid. Mechanical solution is regarded as a form of molecular or atomic attraction, and is probably occasioned by the formation of certain very weak and unstable compounds which are easily dissociated and pass into new and similar compounds. ✍ This word is not used in chemistry or mineralogy for fusion, or the melting of bodies by the heat of fire.
  5. release; deliverance; disharge. Obs. Barrow.
  6. (Med.) (a) The termination of a disease; resolution. (b) A crisis. (c) A liquid medicine or preparation (usually aqueous) in which the solid ingredients are wholly soluble. U. S. Disp.

Webster 1913