adhesive

• adhæsive (obsolete)

From French adhésif, from Medieval Latin adhaesivus, from adhaereō (supine adhaesum); see adhere.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ədˈhiː.sɪv/
• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /ədˈhi.sɪv/, /ædˈhi.sɪv/

  • Audio (US); [ɛdˈhi.sɪv]:

    (file)

  • Audio (Texas); [ɛdˈhi.sɪv]:

    (file)

• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ədˈhiː.sɪv/
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ədˈhiː.səv/

adhesive (comparative more adhesive, superlative most adhesive)

1. Sticky; tenacious, as glutinous substances.

   adhesive material

   adhesive tape

2. Apt or tending to adhere; clinging.

• (sticky): claggy, tenacious; see also Thesaurus:adhesive

adhesive (countable and uncountable, plural adhesives)

1. a substance, such as glue, that provides or promotes adhesion

   The label wouldn’t stick without strong adhesive.

   They used an adhesive to repair the broken vase.

   The company developed a new kind of waterproof adhesive.

• “adhesive”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “adhesive”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.