porosity
Americannoun
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the state or condition of being porous
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geology the ratio of the volume of space to the total volume of a rock
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The condition of being porous.
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The ratio of the volume of all the pores in a material to the volume of the whole.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of porosity
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English porosytee, from Medieval Latin porōsitās ; see origin at porous, -ity
Explanation
Porosity is the quality of being porous, or full of tiny holes. Liquids go right through things that have porosity. Go back far enough and you’ll find that porosity stems from the Greek word poros for "pore," which means “passage.” So something with porosity lets things through. Most pants have porosity, as you unfortunately notice when you spill soup on them — the soup goes right through. On the other hand, a raincoat has no porosity because it's waterproof. If your roof is leaking during the rain, it has some porosity, which is a problem. You can remember porosity by imagining liquids pouring through things.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Spinal scans and microscopic examination of bone tissue confirmed there was reduced degeneration and porosity within the endplates, as well as reduced separation between them, in the treated mice.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 14, 2023
Once the sample container is fully opened in the coming days, the team will sort through the collected pebbles, using instruments built into the glove boxes to measure the rocks’ volume, shape, mass, and porosity.
From Science Magazine ● Sep. 24, 2023
There are different curl patterns, porosity, and thicknesses of hair.
From National Geographic ● Aug. 22, 2023
“The Gundlach building looks the way it does because the community wanted it,” Mr. Sirén said, emphasizing its porosity.
From New York Times ● Apr. 27, 2023
Its shore could not be called a beach, there being neither sand nor pebbles, and there was no pounding of surf either, since the waves that fell upon the island simply vanished into its porosity.
From "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel
Do different types of soils have different porosities?
From Scientific American ● Mar. 1, 2012
From all this Harvey drew his correct conclusions, declaring earnestly, "By Hercules, there ARE no such porosities, and they cannot be demonstrated."
From A History of Science — Volume 2 by Williams, Henry Smith
Continuous fevers represented for him the effect of the gouty toxin upon the large vessels, while paralyses might occur if the gouty toxin involved the "porosities" of the nerves.
From The Century of Columbus by Walsh, James J.
Does the blood accumulate below the ligature coming through the veins, or through the arteries, or passing by certain hidden porosities?
From The Harvard Classics Volume 38 Scientific Papers (Physiology, Medicine, Surgery, Geology) by Various
He had been playing a hunch that had seemed as insane, rationally considered, as his wild idea about the bulkhead porosities.
From The Sky Trap by Long, Frank Belknap
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
