| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| exfoliate |
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| SYLLABICATION: | ex·fo·li·ate |
| PRONUNCIATION: |   ks-f  l - t |
| VERB: | Inflected forms: ex·fo·li·at·ed, ex·fo·li·at·ing, ex·fo·li·ates
| | TRANSITIVE VERB: | 1. To remove (a layer of bark or skin, for example) in flakes or scales; peel. 2. To cast off in scales, flakes, or splinters. | | INTRANSITIVE VERB: | To come off or separate into flakes, scales, or layers. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Latin exfolire, exfolit-, to strip of leaves : ex-, ex- + folium, leaf; see bhel-3 in Appendix I. | | OTHER FORMS: | ex·foli·ation —NOUN
ex·foli·ative —ADJECTIVE
ex·foli·ator —NOUN
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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