Meaning & use
beaker
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Meanings
nouncountabletechnical
A wide glass or plastic laboratory container with straight sides and a pouring lip, used to hold, mix or heat liquids.
Grammar: Takes an article or plural: a beaker, two beakers.
Patterns
- a beaker of something
She poured the blue solution into a glass beaker.
The students heated a beaker of water over the burner.
Always label the beaker before leaving it on the shelf.
nouncountableBritish
A tall plastic cup with a handle or lid, often used by young children or for drinks.
Grammar: Mainly British in this sense: a plastic beaker.
Patterns
- a beaker of something
He gave the toddler a beaker of milk.
The caterers handed out plastic beakers at the fair.
Word forms
| plural | beakers |
|---|
Common combinations
- glass beaker
- A glass beaker sat on the lab bench.
- a beaker of water
- Add a beaker of water to the mixture.
- heat a beaker
- Never heat a beaker with a crack in it.
- plastic beaker
- The little girl drank from a plastic beaker.
- stir in a beaker
- Stir the solution in a beaker for two minutes.
Synonyms and how they differ
- flask
- A flask has a narrower neck and often a rounded or conical base, while a beaker is straight-sided and open.
- cup
- Cup is the everyday word for a drinking vessel, whereas beaker suggests a lab container or a simple children's cup.
- tumbler
- Tumbler is a flat-bottomed drinking glass without a handle, not a scientific container.
Word family
- beakerful noun
- the amount a beaker holds
Commonly confused: beaker or breaker? beaker or flask?
beaker vs breaker
A breaker is a wave or an electrical switch, not a lab container; it differs in spelling and sound.
beaker vs flask
A flask has a narrow neck and is used when you want to swirl liquid without spilling; a beaker is wide and open.
Practice
The chemistry teacher told us to pour the liquid into a ___ and heat it gently.
Choose one answer.
A beaker is a laboratory container. Breaker sounds close but means a wave or a circuit switch.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “beaker”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.