thermal

See also: Thermal and -thermal

English

Etymology

From French thermal, from New Latin *thermalis, from Ancient Greek θέρμη (thérmē, “heat”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰer- (“to heat, warm”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈθɝməl/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)məl

Adjective

thermal (not comparable)

1. Pertaining to heat or temperature.
   • 2013 May-June, Charles T. Ambrose, “Alzheimer’s Disease”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, page 200:

     Similar studies of rats have employed four different intracranial resorbable, slow sustained release systems—surgical foam, a thermal gel depot, a microcapsule or biodegradable polymer beads.

2. (fabric) Providing efficient insulation so as to keep the body warm.
3. Caused or brought about by heat.
4. (stone) Having a rough finish from treatment with a blowtorch.

Hyponyms

• aerothermal
• hydrothermal

Derived terms

• accumulated thermal unit
• allothermal
• anisothermal
• athermal
• autothermal
• biothermal
• bithermal
• British thermal unit
• carbothermal
• chronothermal
• coefficient of thermal expansion
• cryothermal
• dendrothermal
• diathermal
• differential thermal analysis
• dynamothermal
• electrothermal
• endothermal
• epithermal
• eurythermal
• exothermal
• geothermal
• gravithermal
• gravothermal
• gyrothermal
• haematothermal
• hematothermal
• heterothermal
• homeothermal
• homothermal
• hyperthermal
• hypothermal
• isothermal
• macrothermal
• magnetothermal
• mechanothermal
• megathermal
• mesothermal
• microthermal
• mucothermal
• multithermal
• nanothermal
• non-thermal
• nonthermal
• nuclear-thermal rocket
• optothermal
• oxythermal
• photothermal
• pluviothermal
• poikilothermal
• polythermal
• prethermal
• pseudothermal
• recuperative thermal oxidizer
• regenerative thermal oxidizer
• solar thermal collector
• stenothermal
• subthermal
• superthermal
• suprathermal
• synthermal
• Thermageddon
• thermal analysis
• thermal break
• thermal camera
• thermal coal
• thermal compound
• thermal conductance
• thermal conductivity
• thermal contact
• thermal credit
• thermal cycler
• thermal design power
• thermal desorption
• thermal energy
• thermal gel
• thermalgravimetric
• thermal grease
• thermal horsepower
• thermal imaging
• thermalisation
• thermalise
• thermalism
• thermality
• thermalization
• thermalize
• thermal lance
• thermal lithosphere
• thermally
• thermal mass
• thermal neutron
• thermal noise
• thermal oxidizer
• thermal paper
• thermal paste
• thermal printer
• thermal pulse
• thermal radiation
• thermal rocket
• thermal shock
• thermal spring
• thermal turbulence
• thermal underwear
• thermistor

 

Related terms

• therm
• thermo-

Translations

pertaining to heat or temperature

• Bulgarian: топлинен (toplinen), термичен (termičen)
• Danish: termisk
• Finnish: lämpö- (fi), terminen (fi)
• French: thermique (fr)
• Galician: termal m or f
• German: thermisch (de)
• Ido: termala
• Irish: teirmeach
• Italian: termico (it)
• Mandarin: ^{(please verify)} 热量的, 烫的, 温泉的, 导热的
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: termisk

  Nynorsk: termisk

• Portuguese: térmico (pt), termal (pt)
• Romanian: termal (ro), termic (ro)
• Russian: теплово́й (ru) (teplovój), терма́льный (ru) (termálʹnyj), терми́ческий (ru) (termíčeskij)
• Spanish: termal (es)
• Swedish: termisk (sv)

providing efficient insulation so as to keep the body warm

• Finnish: lämpö- (fi), terminen (fi)
• French: thermique (fr)
• Spanish: termal (es)

caused, brought about by heat

• French: thermique (fr)
• Italian: termico (it)
• Portuguese: térmico (pt)
• Spanish: térmico (es)

Noun

thermal (plural thermals)

1. (meteorology) A column of rising air in the lower atmosphere created by uneven heating of a planet's surface.
   • 2019, Chigozie Obioma, An Orchestra of Minorities, Abacus (2019), page 91:

     The hawk had mounted its thermal by the time he got to the yard, flapping its wings violently against the updraft.

Synonyms

• thermal column

 

Coordinate terms

• devil
• dust devil
• fire devil
• landspout
• spout
• steam devil
• waterspout

 

Translations

column of rising air

• Dutch: thermiek (nl) m
• Finnish: termiikki
• French: thermique (fr) m
• German: Thermik (de)
• Italian: corrente ascensionale
• Mandarin: ^{(please verify)} 上升暖气流
• Romanian: curent ascensional m, curent ascendent

Verb

thermal (third-person singular simple present thermals, present participle thermaling or thermalling, simple past and past participle thermaled or thermalled)

1. (stone) To create a rough finish on stone by treating it with a high-temperature blowtorch.
2. (gliding, often in the present participle) To fly an unpowered aircraft in a thermal (column of rising air).

Coordinate terms

• edge (creating a finish on stone)
• thermal edge (creating a finish on stone)
• gliding (fly an unpowered aircraft)

Further reading

• “thermal”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “thermal”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

French

Etymology

From Ancient Greek.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɛʁ.mal/

Adjective

thermal (feminine thermale, masculine plural thermaux, feminine plural thermales)

1. thermal

Descendants

• → Romanian: termal
• → Turkish: termal

Further reading

• “thermal”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Interlingua

Adjective

thermal (not comparable)

1. thermal

Related terms

• thermic