perspiration

Everyday

1. Perspiration is sweat: the salty water that comes out of your skin when you are hot or working hard. tree →
2. Perspiration is the act of sweating. tree →

In the lessons

In science lessons about the body it explains how we cool down: sweat evaporates and takes heat away. In polite or formal speech «perspiration» sounds nicer than «sweat». A famous saying: «Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration» (hard work matters most).

Examples

• Perspiration helps keep your body cool. tree →
• Beads of perspiration ran down his face. tree →
• After the race, my shirt was wet with perspiration. tree →
• Drink water to replace what you lose in perspiration. tree →
• Perspiration contains water and salt. tree →
• The heat made everyone break into perspiration. tree →
• Deodorant reduces the smell of perspiration. tree →
• Success needs lots of perspiration and practice. tree →
• Perspiration hung like beads on his brow. tree →

Note

Uncountable: no «a», no plural. More polite or formal than «sweat». Verb: perspire. Spelling: per-spir-ation (not «prespiration»). Myth: sweat itself does not smell much; bacteria cause the smell.