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RELATED WORDS

permeate, impregnate, suffuse, soak, wash, pervade, douse, infuse, penetrate, imbue, steep, immerse, satiate, bathe, souse, sop, sate, percolate, transfuse, surfeit

Nearby words

sattva, sattvic, satu-mare, saturable, saturant, saturate, saturated, saturated adiabatic lapse rate, saturated compound, saturated fat, saturated fats

Origin of saturate

1530–40; < Latin saturātus (past participle of saturāre to fill), equivalent to satur- full, well-fed (see sad) + -ātus -ate1

Related forms

de·sat·u·rate, verb (used with object), de·sat·u·rat·ed, de·sat·u·rat·ing.o·ver·sat·u·rate, verb (used with object), o·ver·sat·u·rat·ed, o·ver·sat·u·rat·ing.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for saturate

British Dictionary definitions for saturate

saturate

verb (ˈsætʃəˌreɪt)

to fill, soak, or imbue totally
to make (a chemical compound, vapour, solution, magnetic material, etc) saturated or (of a compound, vapour, etc) to become saturated
(tr) military to bomb or shell heavily

adjective (ˈsætʃərɪt, -ˌreɪt)

a less common word for saturated

Derived Forms

saturater or saturator, noun

Word Origin for saturate

C16: from Latin saturāre, from satur sated, from satis enough
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

Medicine definitions for saturate

saturate

[ săch′ə-rāt′ ]

v.

To imbue or impregnate thoroughly.
To soak, fill, or load to capacity.
To cause a substance to unite with the greatest possible amount of another substance.
To satisfy all the chemical affinities of a substance; neutralize.
To dissolve a substance up to that concentration beyond which the addition of more results in a second phase.

Related forms

sat′u•ra•ble (săch′ər-ə-bəl) adj.sat′u•ra′tor n.
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.