reverse osmosis
the process in which pure water is produced by forcing waste or saline water through a semipermeable membrane.
Compare Meanings
Click for a side-by-side comparison of meanings. Use the word comparison feature to learn the differences between similar and commonly confused words.
Origin of reverse osmosis
1Words Nearby reverse osmosis
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use reverse osmosis in a sentence
In fact, it was watching the Jordan River enter the Dead Sea that inspired a scientist named Sidney Loeb—a pioneer of reverse osmosis, one way we desalinate seawater—to first deduce that osmotic energy was possible back in the mid-1970s.
Estuaries could power us to a low-carbon future | Claire Maldarelli | June 23, 2021 | Popular-ScienceA reverse osmosis plant on an adjacent plot of land desalinates and purifies up to 1.25 million gallons of water daily.
Sun+Water= High Tech Caribbean Luxury At The Cusinart Resort | The Daily Beast | June 11, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTAny winery that possesses a reverse-osmosis machine—usually used to remove alcohol from wine—can create their own concentrates.
British Dictionary definitions for reverse osmosis
a technique for purifying water, in which pressure is applied to force liquid through a semipermeable membrane in the opposite direction to that in normal osmosis
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for reverse osmosis
A method of producing pure water by forcing saline or impure water through a semipermeable membrane across which salts or impurities cannot pass. Reverse osmosis is used for water filtration, for desalinization of seawater, and in kidney dialysis machines.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Browse