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1. Liable to lead to sudden change or violence
   "a volatile situation with troops and rioters eager for a confrontation";
   - explosive
    
2. Marked by erratic changeableness in affections or attachments
   "a flirt's volatile affections";
   - fickle
    
3. Tending to vary often or widely
   "volatile stocks"; "volatile emotions"
    
4. (chemistry) evaporating readily at normal temperatures and pressures
   "volatile oils"; "volatile solvents"

1. A volatile substance; a substance that changes readily from solid or liquid to a vapour
   "it was heated to evaporate the volatiles"

Derived forms: volatiles

See also: changeable, changeful, evaporable, inconstant, unstable, vaporific, vaporisable [Brit], vaporizable, vapourific [Brit, Cdn], vapourisable [Brit], volatilisable [Brit], volatilizable

Type of: substance

Antonym: nonvolatilizable

Encyclopedia: Volatile