saturate
Americanverb (used with object)
-
saturates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
saturated,
past participle, past
-
saturating
present participle
-
to cause (a substance) to unite with the greatest possible amount of another substance, through solution, chemical combination, or the like.
-
to charge to the utmost, as with magnetism.
-
to soak, impregnate, or imbue thoroughly or completely.
to saturate a sponge with water; a town saturated with charm.
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to destroy (a target) completely with bombs and missiles.
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to send so many planes over (a target area) that the defensive electronic tracking equipment becomes ineffective.
-
to furnish (a market) with goods to its full purchasing capacity.
verb (used without object)
-
saturates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
saturated,
past participle, past
-
saturating
present participle
adjective
noun
verb
-
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
Synonym Usage
See wet.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
saturatesimple
-
saturatessimple
-
have saturatedperfect
-
has saturatedperfect
-
am saturatingprogressive
-
are saturatingprogressive
-
is saturatingprogressive
-
have been saturatingperfect progressive
-
has been saturatingperfect progressive
Past
-
saturatedsimple
-
had saturatedperfect
-
was saturatingprogressive
-
were saturatingprogressive
-
had been saturatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of saturate
First recorded in 1530–40; from Latin saturātus (past participle of saturāre “to fill”), equivalent to satur- “full, well-fed” ( see sad) + -ātus -ate 1
Explanation
The verb saturate means to cause something to be fully soaked to the point where it can't take on anything else. A heavy rainstorm can saturate the ground, leaving puddles on the lawn because no more water can be absorbed. The word saturate comes from the Latin word saturatus, meaning "to fill full, sate, drench." Saturate is often used to describe the aftermath of a big rainstorm, but other things can be saturated as well. If you're a workaholic, you might saturate all your free time with work, leaving no time to spend with your family. In chemistry, saturate describes causing one substance, like a solution, to take on the greatest amount of another substance.
Vocabulary lists containing saturate
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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:
Then bringing them together and not feeling like we have to make it pop or saturate the music or make the drums lighter and more radio-friendly.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 3, 2026
Revenue grew at greater than 24% a year from 2002 to 2022 when the company began to saturate the market for its customer relationship management software.
From Barron's ● May 27, 2026
UAVs are seen as a low-cost way to saturate targets and air defenses.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 5, 2026
India is also developing swarm drone tactics - deploying large numbers of smaller UAVs to overwhelm and saturate air defences, allowing higher-value assets to penetrate, say experts.
From BBC ● May 9, 2025
That’s a useful lesson for Coca-Cola or Nike, who have hundreds of millions of dollars to spend on marketing and can afford to saturate all forms of media with their message.
From "The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell
And as the market for these types of businesses saturates, creator-founders can no longer guarantee their brands will succeed off the back of their celebrity.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 9, 2026
Once triggered, the system saturates the house and property with water and firefighting foam, “creating an environment that is too wet to burn,” according to the company.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2025
And as the heavy rain saturates soil and snow, the threat for landslides and avalanches increases.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 28, 2024
Silence saturates the emerald green slopes and basalt cliffs.
From New York Times ● Aug. 30, 2023
I want so badly to follow them, but the seawater saturates my wings, making it impossible to lift them.
From "Mockingjay" by Suzanne Collins
When soil becomes saturated with moisture, water fills many of the tiny spaces between soil particles, making it more difficult for gases to move through them.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 17, 2026
But Randolph disputes the idea African scouting is now saturated, citing a number of areas that remain relatively undiscovered, often because of conflict or logistics, with scouts drawn to the region's biggest cities.
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026
It contends that contemporary culture is overly saturated with collapse, dystopia and fear.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2026
After all, wasn’t American life saturated with rich men who seemed to get richer without doing any real work?
From Slate ● Sep. 20, 2026
We live in a world saturated with information.
From "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell
Fighting peat fires requires saturating the ground so thoroughly that it becomes "like porridge", Sujatmoko explains.
From BBC ● Sep. 6, 2026
Fumes have travelled into the neighbouring Namur province, where authorities had to ask residents to stop saturating emergency phone lines with reports of the smell.
From Barron's ● Aug. 16, 2026
Sabroso maximizes the visual pop and sharp humor that defines every scene, saturating frames in “see me” colors popping citrusy in one moment and fiery in the next, lifting the cast’s audacious, extreme performances.
From Salon ● Dec. 17, 2025
The windows and patio doors failed in my apartment, sending water surging inside and saturating all of the rugs and much of the furniture.
From Slate ● Oct. 21, 2024
The liquid seeps into the paper, slowly saturating it until the entire tree glows a rich crimson in a forest of white.
From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
