filtered

1. 1
   adjective

   Passed through a filter so that solid particles or impurities are removed.

   The lab used filtered seawater for the experiment to avoid contamination.

   A cup of freshly filtered coffee has far less sediment than a French press.

   Similarstrained, purified

   Oppositeunfiltered

   Note

   Born from the verb's participle, this adjective describes the result of a process, and in the kitchen it names a method. Mark F. Sohn's Appalachian Home Cooking (2005) lines filtered up with boiled, percolated and pressed as ways of making black coffee. Used this way it takes its place among other preparation words, and it pairs readily with liquids and air: filtered water, filtered coffee.

2. 2
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of filter.

   The technician filtered the sample twice to remove debris.

   They filtered the rainwater before storing it in the tanks.

   Note

   One spelling covers both the simple past and the participle, as with any regular verb, so the useful distinction is transitivity. The sorting and sifting uses take an object and so form passives: the sample was filtered twice. The intransitive ones cannot: light filtered through the curtains, and guests had filtered into the hall. Motorcyclists who filter between lanes also belong to the intransitive group.

3. 3
   adjective

   Equipped with a filter, as a cigarette is, so that some particles are trapped before passing through.

   Most smokers in the office preferred filtered cigarettes.

   The shop stocked a wide range of filtered and unfiltered brands.

   Oppositeunfiltered

   Note

   Here the -ed turns a noun into a description of what something has, as in bearded or walled. A filtered cigarette is one that carries a filter, not one that has been put through one. That separates it from the "passed through a filter" meaning, and it explains the natural pairing of filtered and unfiltered brands on a tobacconist's shelf.

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