Meaning & use
homogeneous
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Meanings
adjectivecomparable
Made up of parts or members that are all alike in kind or character.
Grammar: Can describe groups, societies, or mixtures: a homogeneous population.
Patterns
- a homogeneous group
- homogeneous in something
The village was a homogeneous community of farmers.
Their tastes are fairly homogeneous.
The class was not homogeneous; ages ranged widely.
adjectivenot comparablechemistrytechnical
Having the same composition and properties all the way through, as in a well-mixed substance.
Grammar: Scientific use: a homogeneous mixture has no visible parts.
Patterns
- a homogeneous mixture
Stir the paint until the mixture is homogeneous.
Salt water is a homogeneous mixture.
The alloy is homogeneous throughout.
Word forms
| comparative | more homogeneous |
|---|---|
| superlative | most homogeneous |
Common combinations
- homogeneous mixture
- Sugar in water forms a homogeneous mixture.
- homogeneous group
- The panel was a homogeneous group.
- homogeneous population
- The island has a homogeneous population.
- relatively homogeneous
- The sample was relatively homogeneous.
- culturally homogeneous
- The town is culturally homogeneous.
Synonyms and how they differ
- uniform
- Uniform stresses sameness in appearance or form, while homogeneous stresses sameness in kind or makeup.
- consistent
- Consistent means not changing or contradicting, which differs from being made of similar parts.
- similar
- Similar is weaker and means alike in some ways, not entirely the same throughout.
- identical
- Identical means exactly the same, which is a stronger claim than homogeneous.
Opposites
Word family
- homogeneity noun
- the quality of being the same throughout
- homogenize verb
- to make uniform, as with milk
- homogenization noun
- the process of making uniform
- homogeneously adverb
- in a uniform way
Commonly confused: homogeneous or homogenous? homogeneous or heterogeneous?
homogeneous vs homogenous
Homogenous is a common misspelling or a rare biological term; homogeneous is the usual spelling for 'all alike'.
homogeneous vs heterogeneous
Heterogeneous means made up of different kinds, the exact opposite.
Practice
Unlike a salad, a smoothie is a ____ mixture because you cannot see the separate ingredients.
Choose one answer.
A homogeneous mixture looks the same all the way through. A salad is heterogeneous, so it is the contrast, not the answer.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “homogeneous”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.