mixture
Pluralmixtures
- 1
- 2Something that consists of many different or varied elements brought together.
The city's food scene is a lively mixture of immigrant traditions.
His speech was an odd mixture of humor and grave warning.
Similarmix, blend, combination, medley, assortment
- 3The act or process of mixing things together.
The mixture of the two solutions must happen slowly to avoid overheating.
The deliberate mixture of jazz with folk gave the band its early sound.
Similarblending, mixing, combination, fusion, amalgamation
Oppositeseparation
Note
The sense closest to the word's Latin source: mixtūra meant "a mixing," from mixtus, the past participle of misceō, and it reached English through Old French misture. Here the word names something happening, so it pairs with verbs of result: the mixture of acid and water produces heat. If what is described could be poured or stored, you are reading the product of mixing instead.
- 4A medicinal compound, typically one in which a solid is suspended in a solution.
The pharmacist measured out a chalky white mixture for his stomach trouble.
Shake the mixture thoroughly, since the solid settles at the bottom of the bottle.
Similarsuspension, preparation, medicine
Note
A pharmacy word that lives on the bottle: a teaspoonful of the mixture to be taken three times daily after meals. The medicine is a solid held in a liquid rather than dissolved in it. The solid settles on standing, which is why such bottles are shaken before each dose. In dosing instructions the bare phrase "the mixture" is enough, because the prescription has already said what it contains.
- 5A snack consisting of a mix of assorted dry foods, such as chevda or Bombay mix.
She passed around a bowl of crunchy mixture while the chai brewed.
The corner shop sells homemade mixture, heavy on the peanuts and curry leaves.
Note
Indian English uses the word for a snack, not a process: a crunchy blend of dry ingredients from the family that includes chevda and Bombay mix. It behaves like the name of a food. Like rice or bread, it can go without an article, as in a bowl of mixture or homemade mixture. That is the clearest way to tell it from the general sense of something mixed.
- 6A cloth of variegated coloring, with several colors blended through the fabric.
He ordered a suit cut from a soft Scottish mixture in green and rust.
The draper unrolled a bolt of mixture, its threads shifting between gray and heather purple.
- 7A compound organ stop that sounds multiple ranks of pipes together for each note played.
Adding the mixture gave the final hymn a brilliant, shimmering top.
The organ builder revoiced the mixture so it would not scream above the rest of the chorus.
Note
An organ builder's term for a stop that is several ranks of pipes at once. Each key sounds a cluster of high pitches, typically octaves and fifths above the note played. The effect is brilliance rather than a new voice, which is why a mixture crowns the full chorus. Its ranks break back to lower pitches at points across the keyboard, so the sound never climbs out of hearing.
Practice
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Origin
This word came into Middle English from Old French misture, which came from Latin mixtūra ("a mixing"). That in turn came from mixtus, the past participle of misceō ("mix").