Edit page | Page history | Printable version

Maceration

The softening of a solid by soaking.

(Science: pathology) The softening of a tissue by soaking, especially in acids, until the connective tissue fibres are so dissolved that the tissue components can be teased apart. in obstetrics, the degenerative changes with discolouration and softening of tissues and eventual disintegration, of a foetus retained in the uterus after its death.

Origin: L. Maceratio