coolant

noun cool·ant \ ˈkü-lənt \

Updated on: 11 Apr 2018

Definition of coolant

: a usually fluid cooling agent

See coolant defined for English-language learners

Recent Examples of coolant from the Web

However, a car company can reduce its greenhouse gas emissions with tactics like limiting coolant leaks and by buying credits, while a shift to larger vehicles like SUVs changes the weighting of the average fuel economy target.

— umair irfan, Vox, "The EPA’s fuel standard rollback will hurt clean carmakers like Tesla," 2 Apr. 2018
In 2016, world leaders struck a deal to phase out the use of a class of chemicals called hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, as coolants in refrigerators and air conditioners.

— dino grandoni, Washington Post, "The Energy 202: Trump under pressure to keep an Obama-era climate decision he hasn't tried to kill (yet)," 20 Feb. 2018
In addition to the lack of land costs, offshore panels tend to receive more sunlight due to the lack of obstacles, and the water acts as a coolant, increasing efficiency.

— avery thompson, Popular Mechanics, "Netherlands to Build First Solar Farm That Will Float in the Ocean," 15 Feb. 2018
Other heaters include block heaters that bolt electrical elements to the exterior of the engine, oil heaters that take the place of a dipstick and coolant heaters to keep the antifreeze from, well, freezing.

— dwight adams, Indianapolis Star, "Here's what to do when a car won't start in cold weather," 2 Jan. 2018
Hospitals are also devising procedures to shut automatically down coolant systems, which if broken during an earthquake could release toxic chemicals in a building.

— rong-gong lin ii, latimes.com, "Earthquake early warning system gets big boost in House budget bill," 22 Mar. 2018
These undersquare dimensions produce a more compact combustion chamber with a more favorable surface-to-volume ratio than an oversquare engine, reducing heat losses to the coolant.

— csaba csere, Car and Driver, "Nine Things You Must Know about the New Mercedes Inline-Six," 20 Mar. 2018
The TourX cockpit is pretty basic: four analog indicators (speedometer, coolant temp, fuel, and tachometer) with a small digital display taking up the bottom middle of the instrument panel.

— eric bangeman, Ars Technica, "The station wagon is alive and well: Driving the Buick Regal TourX," 19 Mar. 2018
Years before these events, a stuck valve regulating the supply of coolant to a nuclear reactor nearly resulted in the meltdown of a nuclear plant in Pennsylvania.

— david wagner, chicagotribune.com, "The dark side of daylight saving time," 9 Mar. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'coolant.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.