To remove water or moisture from a substance; to dehydrate a chemical compound.
From Ancient Greek 'an-' (without) + 'hydro-' (water) + '-ate' (verb suffix). The term became standard in chemistry for the process of removing water from compounds.
When chemists anhydrate copper sulfate, they turn it from beautiful blue crystals into white powder—it's like the compound loses its 'personality' when you take away the water molecules, which is why hydrated and anhydrous forms look completely different!
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