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Make Your Point > Archived Issues > UNDILUTED

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pronounce UNDILUTED:

un die LOOT ud
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connect this word to others:

At the heart of the word undiluted is the Latin lavere, "to wash." We've checked out a few other words that also came from lavere; see if you can recall them:

1. A d_lu__ is a powerful flood, one that washes the earth clean.

2. Something anted_lu____ is prehistoric or very old-fashioned, as if it's been around since before the biblical flood.

3. Ap__s n__s le d_lu__ means "after us, the flood," or less literally, an attitude of not caring what happens after you die.

(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)   

definition:

"Dilute," in its most literal sense, means "to wash away." (It comes from the Latin dilutus, "to wash away," which breaks down into the prefix "dis-," meaning "away," and lavere, "to wash.")

We use "dilute" to mean "water down," as in "Too much ice will dilute your soda" and "I dilute my Crystal Light lemonade because the flavor is so strong." We also use "dilute" figuratively to mean "to weaken, or to make less pure," as in "Don't bleep out all the profanity in this documentary; you'd be diluting its emotional power."

So, if you call something "undiluted," you mean that it's as strong, powerful, and effective as it possibly can be, and nothing has weakened it or watered it down. For example, "The documentary shows all the undiluted joy, pain, frustration, and humor of songwriting and recording."

grammatical bits:

Part of speech:

Adjective: "their undiluted joy," "The film's power is raw and undiluted."

Other forms: 

The opposite is "diluted," as in "The battle was won, but losses diluted their sense of victory. Its verb forms are "dilute," "diluted," and "diluting," and the noun is "dilution."

If you need an adjective or a noun, you could use "undilutedly" and "undilutedness," but they sound awful and aren't recognized in dictionaries. How about "purely" and "purity" instead?

how to use it:

Pick the formal, dramatic, semi-common word "undiluted" when you want to call attention to the strength and purity of something's power.

You might talk about undiluted colors, undiluted scents or flavors, undiluted moods or emotions, or the undiluted power of art, music, nature, or love.

You might point out that something is undiluted by some other force: "The memory is undiluted by time." "Her bond with her parents is intense, undiluted by outside influences (New York Times)."

Or, be literal and talk about undiluted substances. Here's the Washington Post: "For really stubborn... stains, use undiluted vinegar."

examples:

"The pointed humor and soulful asides that make 'Hacks' addictive remain largely undiluted four seasons in."
  — Melanie McFarland, Salon, 10 April 2025

"Alice Herz-Sommer, at 109 the oldest known Holocaust survivor... [outlived] the death camps by playing classical piano for her Nazi captors. 'Music saved my life and music saves me still,' she says with a vigorous optimism undiluted by age or circumstance. 'I am Jewish, but Beethoven is my religion.'"
   — Richard Corliss, Time, 28 February 2014

has this page helped you understand "undiluted"?

   

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this term, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.


study it:

Explain the meaning of "undiluted" without saying "concentrated" or "full strength."

try it out:

In the New York Times, Ben Brantley describes the "undiluted contentment" he felt as a teen when he and his mom would read Shakespeare together:

"We’d read an act or two at a time, and there'd always be a certain point when the words would make sense in a new way. I'd feel so privileged to be saying them myself, with my voice, and hearing my mother answer me in the same language. And I'd start to feel a hum of undiluted contentment, pitched at the level of a cat's purr, that was so very rare during my adolescence."

With that in mind as an example, talk about a time in your life when you felt undiluted contentment. Would you, too, compare the feeling to a cat's purr, or to some other sound, sight, scent, taste, or feel? Why?




before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game this month: Poetic Connections!

Check out three snippets from a poem, along with three words we've studied—some beautiful, some outrageous—and decide which word you'll connect to each snippet. To see the definitions, highlight the hidden white text after each word. And to see an example, head here.

Try this set today:

"Try to Praise the Mutilated World" by Adam Zagajewski

Snippets:
1. "The nettles that methodically overgrow the abandoned homesteads of exiles"
2. "Remember the moments when we were together in a white room and the curtain fluttered"
3. "Return in thought to the concert where music flared."

Words:
A. madeleine effect (meaning... being triggered to recall a specific memory)
B. salient (meaning... important, and seeming to leap to the attention)
C. unrelenting (meaning... persistent, constantly continuing)

To see one possible set of answers, scroll all the way down; if your answers don’t match these, that's fine: all that matters is that yours make sense to you.

review this word:

1. The precise opposite of UNDILUTED is DILUTED, meaning

A. CRAZED.
B. WATERED-DOWN.
C. FACTORY-SEALED.

2. Being teenagers who _____, Romeo and Juliet adore each other with affection undiluted by _____.

A. have each been taught to hate the other's family .. wild optimism
B. literally just met .. time, experience, or deep knowledge of each other
C. belong to the upper class .. lavish parties and mansions rife with servants




Answers to the review questions:
1. B
2. B

I’d connect madeleine effect to snippet 3 for traveling back to a specific experience in memory, salient to snippet 2 because the moment in the white room with the curtain fluttering must have been important, and unrelenting to snippet 1 for the nettles overtaking the homesteads methodically.


a final word:


I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love.

I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.


From my blog:
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A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.

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