vapours
Gaseous suspended particles
Vapours is the British spelling of vapors—visible clouds of gas, mist, or smoke suspended in air.
In historical usage, the vapours referred to a nervous condition supposedly affecting women, characterized by fainting, anxiety, or melancholy: She took to her bed with the vapours.
This sense now sounds archaic or deliberately theatrical.
Low-lying cloud cover
- hazeMurky atmospheric suspension
- steamHeated water's gaseous form
- cloudAtmospheric water vapor mass
- condensationVapor turning to liquid
moisture · spray · wisp · brume · dew · drizzle · nebulosity · veil
Temporary loss of consciousness
- swooningLosing consciousness briefly
- melancholySubdued, lasting sadness
- nervesTense apprehension
- smelling saltsPungent ammonia revival compound
Victorian · hysteria · fits · spells · temperament · delicate · sensitive · overwrought
Capable of causing harm
- noxiousHarmful, especially when inhaled
- exhaustUse up entirely
- emissionsSubstances released into air
- inhalationTaking breath in
smoke · odorous · irritants · acrid · pungent · suffocating · choking · asphyxiating
Heated water's gaseous form
- boilHeat to bubbling point
- condenseMake more compact
- distillPurify through vaporization
- sublimateRedirect impulses constructively
volatilize · heat · liquid · gaseous · diffuse · disperse · dissipate · rising
Lasting very briefly
- fleetingPassing very quickly
- evanescentTending to vanish quickly
- dissipatingScattering and fading out
- vanishingCeasing to be visible
dissolving · fading · insubstantial · immaterial · ghostly · spectral · ethereal · dreamlike
fog
Low-lying cloud cover
condensation · moisture · spray · wisp · brume · dew · drizzle · nebulosity · veil · murkiness
fainting
Temporary loss of consciousness
- swooningLosing consciousness briefly
- melancholySubdued, lasting sadness
- nervesTense apprehension
smelling salts · Victorian · hysteria · fits · spells · temperament · delicate · sensitive · overwrought · agitation
toxic
Capable of causing harm
inhalation · smoke · odorous · irritants · acrid · pungent · suffocating · choking · asphyxiating · stench
steam
Heated water's gaseous form
sublimate · volatilize · heat · liquid · gaseous · diffuse · disperse · dissipate · rising · escaping
ephemeral
Lasting very briefly
- fleetingPassing very quickly
- evanescentTending to vanish quickly
- dissipatingScattering and fading out
vanishing · dissolving · fading · insubstantial · immaterial · ghostly · spectral · ethereal · dreamlike · illusory
- Victorianaseances, Dickens, spiritualism, Sherlock Holmes, phrenology
- medieval medicinebloodletting, leeching, four humors, humors, barber-surgeons
- Old Sciencephlogiston, aether, ether, caloric, miasma
- emotionsjoy, anger, fear, sadness, love
- Victorian eraparlour, Victorian etiquette, etiquette, parlor games, courtship
- sadnesssad, unhappy, grief, sorrowful, heartbroken
vapourssubstance
Physical material with mass
solids · corporeal form · physical body · mass · bulk
vapourspermanence
Quality of lasting indefinitely
fixity · solidity · stability · immutability
- vapour trailCondensed aircraft exhaust visible aloft
- water vapourAirborne moisture, gaseous state
- vapour lockGas bubbles blocking fuel
- vapour pressureEvaporated molecules' exerted force