PARTICULATE MATTER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does particulate matter mean? 

• PARTICULATE MATTER (noun)
  The noun PARTICULATE MATTER has 1 sense:

1. a small discrete mass of solid or liquid matter that remains individually dispersed in gas or liquid emissions (usually considered to be an atmospheric pollutant)

  Familiarity information: PARTICULATE MATTER used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PARTICULATE MATTER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A small discrete mass of solid or liquid matter that remains individually dispersed in gas or liquid emissions (usually considered to be an atmospheric pollutant)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Synonyms:

particulate; particulate matter

Hypernyms ("particulate matter" is a kind of...):

material; stuff (the tangible substance that goes into the makeup of a physical object)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "particulate matter"):

dust (fine powdery material such as dry earth or pollen that can be blown about in the air)

 Context examples 

To do this, they exposed human lung tissue to particulate matter smaller than 10 microns (10 μm), which is commonly emitted as a result of these fires and can reach the lung alveoli.

(Lung damage from agricultural fires probed, SciDev.Net)

A process of separating particulate matter from a fluid, such as air or a liquid, by passing the fluid carrier through a medium that will not pass the particulates.

(Filtration, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

A method to quantify the concentration of particulate matter suspended in a liquid or gas using a nephelometer.

(Nephelometry, NCI Thesaurus)

However, the situation is different in developing Asia Pacific countries where older vehicles are still widely used, and the burning of solid fuels for cooking already adds to particulate matter in ambient air.

(Nanoparticles raise vascular risk by escaping the lungs, SciDev.Net)

Researchers found that in 2015, diesel vehicles emitted 13.1 million tons of NOx, a chemical precursor to particulate matter and ozone.

(Diesel Pollutes More Than Lab Tests Detect, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Trees are particularly good at filtering air pollutants such as ozone, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and particulate matter, which come from cars and roadworks.

(People Living Near Parks in Cities Less Likely to Face Early Death, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

NTP scientists evaluated published research on the link between traffic-related air pollution, or TRAP, and hypertensive disorders broken down by pollutant measurements of TRAP, such as particulate matter (PM2.5).

(Pregnancy hypertension risk increased by traffic-related air pollution, National Institutes of Health)

The study found that even low levels of particulate matter may adversely affect the kidneys.

(Breathing Dirty Air May Harm Kidneys, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

They found that using any NSAID nearly halved the effect of particulate matter on lung function, with the association consistent across all four weekly air pollution measurements.

(Aspirin Could Cut Air Pollution Harms, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

That left out a whole segment of possibilities including carbon monoxide, ozone and larger particulate matter.

(Pollution Linked to Significant Decline in Human Cognition, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)