residue

noun

USREZ-i-doo/ˈɹɛzɪduː/UKREZ-i-dyoo/ˈɹɛzɪdjuː/

6 meanings of residue

1
nouncountable or uncountable
The part that is left when everything else has been taken away.
Like the crumbs left on a plate after the cake is gone.
After she washed the pan, a greasy residue stayed on the surface.
The flood left a thin residue of mud across the kitchen floor.
Similardeposit, remnant, trace, film
Note
2
nouncountable or uncountable
The stuff left behind after a liquid dries up, boils away, or is filtered out.
Like the white marks left on a glass after the water dries.
When the water boiled away, a white residue was left in the kettle.
The filter caught a brown residue from the dirty water.
Similardeposit, sediment, residuum
Note
3
nouncountable or uncountable
What is left of a dead person's money and property after all debts and gifts are paid.
Like the change left in your pocket after you have paid all your bills.
After the debts were paid, the residue went to her grandchildren.
The will left the residue of his estate to charity.
Similarremainder, residuum, balance
Note
4
nouncountable
A single building-block molecule, such as an amino acid, left when a long chain is broken apart.
Like one bead taken from a long beaded necklace.
Each residue in the protein chain is a single amino acid.
Breaking the chain releases one residue at a time.
Note
5
nouncountable
The whole number left over after you divide one number by another.
Like the few candies left over after you share a bag equally among friends.
When you divide 17 by 5, the residue is 2.
Any number divided by 2 has a residue of either 0 or 1.
Similarremainder
Note
6
nouncountable
A special number tied to a point where a function breaks down, worked out by looping around that point.
Like measuring how strong a whirlpool is by walking in a circle around it.
To solve the integral, she found the residue at each bad point.
The residue at that point turned out to be zero.
Note

Practice

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Origin

It came from Latin, from a word meaning "remaining" that is linked to "I remain behind." It reached English through French.