saturate

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin saturātus, perfect passive participle of saturāre (“to fill full”), from satur (“full”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsæt͡ʃəˌɹeɪt/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

Verb

saturate (third-person singular simple present saturates, present participle saturating, simple past and past participle saturated)

1. (transitive) To cause to become completely permeated with, or soaked (especially with a liquid).

   Synonyms: drench, impregnate, soak

   Rain saturated their clothes.

   After walking home in the driving rain, his clothes were saturated.

   • 1815, Annals of Philosophy, volume 6, page 332:

     Suppose, on the contrary, that a piece of charcoal saturated with hydrogen gas is put into a receiver filled with carbonic acid gas, […]

   • 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter 12, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:

     Innumerable flocks and herds covered that vast expanse of emerald meadow, saturated with the moisture of the Atlantic.

2. (transitive, figurative) To fill thoroughly or to excess.

   Modern television is saturated with violence.

3. (transitive, chemistry) To satisfy the affinity of; to cause a substance to become inert by chemical combination with all that it can hold.

   One can saturate phosphorus with chlorine.

4. (transitive, optics) To render pure, or of a colour free from white light.

Related terms

• sate
• satis
• satisfy
• saturation

 

Translations

to cause to become penetrated or soaked

• Finnish: kyllästää (fi), kastella läpimäräksi
• French: saturer (fr)
• German: sättigen (de)
• Greek: κορεννύω (el) (korennýo)
• Hungarian: telít (hu)
• Norwegian: gjennomvæte
• Polish: nasycać (pl) impf, nasycić (pl) pf
• Portuguese: saturar (pt)
• Russian: пропи́тывать (ru) impf (propítyvatʹ), пропита́ть (ru) pf (propitátʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: sàsaich
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: нато̀пити pf, намо̀чити pf

  Roman: natòpiti (sh), namòčiti (sh)

• Spanish: empapar (es)
• Ukrainian: просо́чувати impf (prosóčuvaty), просочи́ти pf (prosočýty), наси́чувати impf (nasýčuvaty), насити́ти pf (nasytýty)

to become penetrated or soaked

• Bulgarian: пропивам се (propivam se), просмуквам се (prosmukvam se)
• Esperanto: ^{(please verify)} saturi
• Georgian: ^{(please verify)} იჟღინთება (ižɣinteba), ^{(please verify)} გაჯერდება (gaǯerdeba)
• Maori: ^{(please verify)} tōpuni
• Polish: nasycić się (pl) pf, nasycać się (pl) impf
• Russian: насыща́ться (ru) impf (nasyščátʹsja), насы́титься (ru) pf (nasýtitʹsja), (become fully soaked) пропи́тываться (ru) impf (propítyvatʹsja), пропита́ться (ru) pf (propitátʹsja)

to fill thoroughly or to excess

• French: saturer (fr)
• Spanish: saturar (es)

(chemistry) to cause a substance to become inert by chemical combination with all that it can hold

• Bulgarian: насищам (bg) (nasištam)
• Esperanto: saturi
• German: sättigen (de)
• Ido: saturar (io)
• Norwegian: mette (no)
• Polish: nasycić (pl) pf, nasycać (pl) impf, wysycić pf, wysycać impf
• Portuguese: saturar (pt)
• Romanian: satura (ro)
• Russian: насыща́ть (ru) impf (nasyščátʹ), насы́тить (ru) pf (nasýtitʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: за̀ситити pf

  Roman: zàsititi (sh)

• Spanish: saturar (es)

Noun

saturate (plural saturates)

1. (chemistry) Something saturated, especially a saturated fat.
   • 1999, Tom Brody, Nutritional Biochemistry, Academic Press, →ISBN, page 363:

     Through formation of a double bond, stearic acid (18:0), a saturate, is converted to acid (18:1), a monounsaturate.

   • 1973, Paul Nels Rylander, Fourth Conference on Catalytic Hydrogenation and Analogous Pressure Reactions:

     We estimate from Table 4 that the average deuterium content in the saturate is approximately 1.1 when palladium is the catalyst, 1.6 when platinum is the catalyst, and 1.7 when rhodium is the catalyst. If there were only deuterium on the surface, the saturate would average 2 deuteriums.

Adjective

saturate (comparative more saturate, superlative most saturate)

1. Saturated; wet.
   • 1785, William Cowper, “The Task”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), page 23:

     The innocent are gay—the lark is gay, / That dries his feathers, saturate with dew, / Beneath the rosy cloud, while yet the beams / Of dayspring overshoot his humble nest.

2. (entomology) Very intense.

   saturate green

Further reading

• “saturate”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “saturate”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “saturate”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• taurates, tuateras

Ido

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /satuˈrate/

Verb

saturate

1. adverbial present passive participle of saturar

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sa.tuˈra.te/
• Rhymes: -ate
• Hyphenation: sa‧tu‧rà‧te

Etymology 1

Adjective

saturate

1. feminine plural of saturato

Participle

saturate f pl

1. feminine plural of saturato

Etymology 2

Verb

saturate

1. inflection of saturare:
   1. second-person plural present indicative
   2. second-person plural imperative

Anagrams

• astutare, tesatura

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /sa.tuˈraː.te/, [s̠ät̪ʊˈräːt̪ɛ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /sa.tuˈra.te/, [sät̪uˈräːt̪e]

Verb

saturāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of saturō

Spanish

Verb

saturate

1. second-person singular voseo imperative of saturar combined with te