saturation

American  

[sach-uh-rey-shuhn] / ˌsætʃ əˈreɪ ʃən /

noun

1. the act or process of saturating.

2. the state of being saturated.

3. Meteorology. a condition in the atmosphere corresponding to 100 percent relative humidity.

4. the degree of chroma or purity of a color; the degree of freedom from admixture with white.

5. Magnetism. the state of maximum magnetization of a ferromagnetic material.

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saturation British  

/ ˌsætʃəˈreɪʃən /

noun

1. the act of saturating or the state of being saturated

2. chem the state of a chemical compound, solution, or vapour when it is saturated

3. meteorol the state of the atmosphere when it can hold no more water vapour at its particular temperature and pressure, the relative humidity then being 100 per cent

4. the attribute of a colour that enables an observer to judge its proportion of pure chromatic colour See also colour

5. physics the state of a ferromagnetic material in which it is fully magnetized. The magnetic domains are then all fully aligned

6. electronics the state of a valve or semiconductor device that is carrying the maximum current of which it is capable and is therefore unresponsive to further increases of input signal

7. the level beyond which demand for a product or service is not expected to increase

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1. denoting the maximum possible intensity of coverage of an area

   saturation bombing

   a saturation release of a film

saturation Scientific  

/ săch′ə-rā′shən /

1. The state of a physical system, such as a solution, containing as much of another substance, such as a solute, as is possible at a given temperature or pressure.

2. The vividness of a color's hue. Saturation measures the degree to which a color differs from a gray of the same darkness or lightness.

3. Compare hue value

4. The state of being a saturated organic compound.

5. See more at saturated

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Other Word Forms

• desaturation
  noun
• nonsaturation
  noun
• oversaturation
  noun
• subsaturation
  noun

Etymology

Origin of saturation

1545–55; < Late Latin saturātiōn- (stem of saturātiō ) a filling, equivalent to saturāt ( us ) ( see saturate) + -iōn- -ion

Explanation

Saturation means holding as much moisture as possible. When you water your houseplants, you may soak them until the soil around each plant reaches saturation. The noun saturation means the act of completely soaking something until it's absorbed as much water as it can. Imagine a sponge that can't get any more wet, and you'll have an idea of what saturation means. When you're talking about art, saturation means the amount of bright, undiluted color in a painting or photograph, usually colors that are quite intense and unshaded. The Latin root saturatus means "to fill, sate, or drench."

Example Sentences

Creamy without being heavy, packed with herbs and unapologetically citrus-forward, it’s the sort of pasta salad that tastes like someone turned the saturation up on summer itself.

From Salon • Jul. 8, 2026

Defenders facing saturation attacks are burning through million-dollar inventory, and the math compounds quickly.

From MarketWatch • Jun. 29, 2026

“His insistence on color saturation is something that really informs his work for ‘The Wizard of Oz,’ and it’s really that movie that cements his reputation as one of the masters of scenic art.”

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 26, 2026

In the 1920s, Schrödinger built on that idea by defining hue, saturation, and lightness within a Riemannian model of color perception, using a metric that describes how people perceive color differences.

From Science Daily • Jun. 7, 2026

Even those people who joy in numbers and are impressed with bigness are beginning to worry, gradually becoming aware that there must be a saturation point and the progress may be a progression toward strangulation.

From "Travels with Charley in Search of America" by John Steinbeck

Related Words

• congestion
• overload