saturate

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsætʃəˌɹeɪt/

Verb

1. To cause to become completely penetrated, impregnated, or soaked (especially with a liquid).
   • 1815, in the 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, […]

   • (Can we date this quote by Macaulay and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

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

   Rain saturated their clothes.

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

2. To fill to excess.

   Modern television is saturated with violence.

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

Related terms

• sate
• satis
• satisfy
• saturation

 

Translations

to become penetrated or soaked

• Esperanto: saturi
• Finnish: kyllästää, kastella läpimäräksi
• French: saturer (fr)
• German: sättigen (de)
• Greek: κορεννύω (el) (korennýo)
• Maori: tōpuni
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Norwegian: gjennomvæte
• Portuguese: saturar (pt)
• Russian: насыща́ться (ru) impf (nasyščátʹsja), насы́титься (ru) pf (nasýtitʹsja), (become fully soaked) пропи́тываться (ru) impf (propítyvatʹsja), пропита́ться (ru) pf (propitátʹsja)
• Scottish Gaelic: sàsaich
• Serbo-Croatian: natòpiti (sh), namòčiti (sh)
• Spanish: empapar (es)

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

• German: sättigen (de)
• Norwegian: mette (no)
• Portuguese: saturar (pt)
• Romanian: satura (ro)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Russian: насыща́ть (ru) impf (nasyščátʹ), насы́тить (ru) pf (nasýtitʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: 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.
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

• artuates, taurates, tuateras

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Italian

Verb

saturate

1. second-person plural present indicative of saturare
2. second-person plural imperative of saturare
3. feminine plural of saturato

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Latin

Verb

(deprecated template usage) saturāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of saturō