a homogeneous mixture of two or more substances; frequently (but not necessarily) a liquid solution
<noun.substance> he used a solution of peroxide and water
a statement that solves a problem or explains how to solve the problem
<noun.communication> they were trying to find a peaceful solution the answers were in the back of the book he computed the result to four decimal places
a method for solving a problem
<noun.cognition> the easy solution is to look it up in the handbook
the set of values that give a true statement when substituted into an equation
<noun.group>
the successful action of solving a problem
<noun.act> the solution took three hours
Solution \So*lu"tion\ (s[-o]*l[=u]"sh[u^]n), n. [OE. solucion, OF. solucion, F. solution, fr. L. solutio, fr. solvere, solutum, to loosen, dissolve. See {Solve}.] 1. The act of separating the parts of any body, or the condition of undergoing a separation of parts; disruption; breach.
In all bodies there is an appetite of union and evitation of solution of continuity. --Bacon.
2. The act of solving, or the state of being solved; the disentanglement of any intricate problem or difficult question; explanation; clearing up; -- used especially in mathematics, either of the process of solving an equation or problem, or the result of the process.
3. The state of being dissolved or disintegrated; resolution; disintegration.
It is unquestionably an enterprise of more promise to assail the nations in their hour of faintness and solution, than at a time when magnificent and seductive systems of worship were at their height of energy and splendor. --I. Taylor.
4. (Chem.Phys.) The act or process by which a body (whether solid, liquid, or gaseous) is absorbed into a liquid, and, remaining or becoming fluid, is diffused throughout the solvent; also, the product resulting from such absorption.
Note: When a solvent will not take in any more of a substance the solution is said to be saturated. Solution is of two kinds; viz.: (a) {Mechanical solution}, in which no marked chemical change takes place, and in which, in the case of solids, the dissolved body can be regained by evaporation, as in the solution of salt or sugar in water. (b) {Chemical solution}, in which there is involved a decided chemical change, as when limestone or zinc undergoes solution in hydrochloric acid. {Mechanical solution} is regarded as a form of molecular or atomic attraction, and is probably occasioned by the formation of certain very weak and unstable compounds which are easily dissociated and pass into new and similar compounds.
Note: This word is not used in chemistry or mineralogy for fusion, or the melting of bodies by the heat of fire.
6. (Med.) (a) The termination of a disease; resolution. (b) A crisis. (c) A liquid medicine or preparation (usually aqueous) in which the solid ingredients are wholly soluble. --U. S. Disp.
{Fehling's solution} (Chem.), a standardized solution of cupric hydrate in sodium potassium tartrate, used as a means of determining the reducing power of certain sugars and sirups by the amount of red cuprous oxide thrown down.
{Heavy solution} (Min.), a liquid of high density, as a solution of mercuric iodide in potassium iodide (called the {Sonstadt solution} or {Thoulet solution}) having a maximum specific gravity of 3.2, or of borotungstate of cadium ({Klein solution}, specific gravity 3.6), and the like. Such solutions are much used in determining the specific gravities of minerals, and in separating them when mechanically mixed as in a pulverized rock.
{Nessler's solution}. See {Nesslerize}.
{Solution of continuity}, the separation of connection, or of connected substances or parts; -- applied, in surgery, to a fracture, laceration, or the like. ``As in the natural body a wound, or solution of continuity, is worse than a corrupt humor, so in the spiritual.'' --Bacon.
{Standardized solution} (Chem.), a solution which is used as a reagent, and is of a known and standard strength; specifically, a normal solution, containing in each cubic centimeter as many milligrams of the element in question as the number representing its atomic weight; thus, a normal solution of silver nitrate would contain 107.7 mgr. of silver in each cubic centimeter.
As the government still wants to sell its 40 per cent stakes in both companies, it has an obvious incentive to find an acceptable solution before the market's insouciance fades.
One solution seen by many sponsors such as Valvoline is to spend more money at small local tracks where racing is still valued more for sport than for big business.
Precisely because nobody can agree over who owns Macedonia, say these young Macedonians, the best solution for Macedonia is for it to be separate and multinational.
Thomas M. Egan, president and chief executive officer of Stotler Group, said the company had been in negotiations with the creditors in efforts to reach a solution.
"Our government is set on finding a political solution to the conflict," Cristiani said Friday. "There is no use for a military solution.
"Our government is set on finding a political solution to the conflict," Cristiani said Friday. "There is no use for a military solution.
When the chemists suspended in solution the stiff strings of carbon used in Kevlar, they found them scattered randomly, like bunches of brittle, uncooked spaghetti dropped on the floor.
"All these subjects are still under discussion, and there is an effort by Mubarak and by other friends to reach an overall solution to all these questions," Arafat said.
We were more frightened of the implications of making the wrong decision.' The brief was to find a long-term solution.
'It is not so much more deserving than other countries.' But why was a Brady-type solution not launched much earlier?
And moreover, in my view, that would draw us into consequences which we can't at this stage forecast and therefore, our country and the United Nations as a whole has a whole range of possibilities of finding a political solution to this problem.
"Only such a solution can have the guarantees and the interational peacekeeping force under the United Nations which will minimize the danger of the Khmer Rouge," he said.
But the government's response has been to lower salaries, a controversial solution in a country where most workers earn less than $30 a week.
Hussein has been holding numerous meetings at home and abroad in recent weeks after pledging to seek a diplomatic solution to the crisis, triggered by the Aug. 2 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.
In prior crises we often broke loose from the bounds of conventional thinking by seeking the solution in a condition precisely opposite the one troubling us.
Mr. Gherman mentions unspecified financial and emotional problems, for which he could find no solution "other than running."
In their experiment, the researchers washed paired batches of the oil-coated Alaskan gravels, one batch in each pair with water and the other with a 1% solution of Pseudomonas aeruginosa surfactant.
But unless there's a crisis such as a Wall Street crash or runaway inflation, "they are not willing to admit that they or their programs should be a part of the solution." "There's a key element missing from the budget debate.
"Twelve infants were sufficient to show us this is not a feasible technique or solution" to the infant organ shortage, said Dr. Joyce Peabody, Loma Linda's chief of neonatology.
The king advocated a diplomatic solution to the crisis. In sharp contrast, Ankara gave solid support to the coalition.
However, since unification will come about sooner than a new system, he said, a temporary solution may be necessary.
A top ANC official, secretary general Alfred Nzo, charged Saturday that the white-minority government was blocking efforts to find a peaceful solution to the country's problems.
And I think you need to be a brave company to take that decision,' he said. For Ainley, the assessments presented an obvious solution to a problem.
To fund outreach in isolation and hope that it alone will accomplish major improvements in the use or prenatal services is naive and wasteful." The panel concluded that the solution is action rather than more study.
Mr. Develle says the only "real solution is a recession," but he and others realize that the U.S. administration and congress will be doing everything possible to avoid one before the 1988 presidential election.
The study asserts that up to two-thirds of the prescriptions filled by older adults each year fall into three categories: - Not needed because the problem is not one for which the drug is a proper solution.
But the most cost-effective solution is to go nuclear." India tested a nuclear device in 1974 but insisted it was for peaceful purposes.
For years pharmacist Edward Kilkeary used arthritis medication, saline solution and sterilizing equipment to whip up hundreds of tiny bottles of specially prescribed eye drops for cataract patients.
They were just six of 157 illegal immigrants arrested that night. Could the same situation, the same solution, develop in post-communist Europe?
"It's absolutely absurd and doubly shameful that it took five and a half months and involved thousands of innocent people to come up with a solution that reasonable men should have come up with sooner," Lee Rich said.