1. In zoology, an organism that grows in the presence of water: The Spiderwort, the African violet, and the Chinese Evergreen are all considered to be a hydrophiles because they need water to survive.
2. In chemistry, a substance that is able to absorb water: One hydrophile is sodium polyacrylate that can take in about 500 to 1000 times its weight in water which takes only a few seconds!