English Explanatory Dictionary

saturate

English dictionary entry

Meanings

verb
  1. To cause to become completely permeated with, or soaked (especially with a liquid).
  2. To fill thoroughly or to excess.
  3. To satisfy the affinity of; to cause a substance to become inert by chemical combination with all that it can hold.
  4. To render pure, or of a colour free from white light.
noun
  1. Something saturated, especially a saturated fat.
adj
  1. Saturated, wet, soaked.
  2. Dripping with, covered with, exuding (something) [with with].
  3. Very intense.
  4. Satisfied, satiated.
  5. Complete, perfect.
  6. Saturated.

Pronunciation

/ˈsatjʊɹeɪt/ /ˈsæt͡ʃəˌɹeɪt/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-saturate.wav /ˈsatjʊɹət/ /ˈsæt͡ʃəɹət/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-saturate2.wav

Word forms

saturate saturates saturating saturated more saturate most saturate

Etymology

The adjective is first attested in the second part of the 15ᵗʰ century, in Middle English, the verb in 1538, the noun in 1921; inherited from Middle English saturat(e) (“satiated, satisfied”), borrowed from Latin saturātus, perfect passive participle of saturō (“to fill, satisfy, quench”) (see -ate (etymology 1, 2 and 3)), from satur (“full”) + -ō (verb-forming suffix).

Synonyms

drench impregnate soak

Related words

sate satis satisfy saturation

Derived words

desaturate nonsaturating oversaturate presaturate resaturate saturatable saturative saturator subsaturating supersaturate undersaturate unsaturate
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
Back to search All on S Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary