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Glite Dictionary
🌫️ To remove color 🫁 To lose oxygen ⚗️ To remove hydrogen
to desaturate

to desaturate

7.4
To make the oxygen level in the blood fall
  • verb
  • /ˌdiːˈsætʃʊˌreɪt/
  • Specialized
translation icon : desaturar
  • The doctor noticed that the patient was desaturating and quickly adjusted the oxygen levels.

Examples

  • During the flight, we experienced a drop in cabin pressure, causing some passengers to desaturate and feel lightheaded.

  • If you exercise too hard, your blood may start to desaturate due to insufficient oxygen.

  • d. meperidine (Demerol) 14. For a child on opioids via PCA who is alert but is desaturating, the recommended intervention is to

    Academic text (2003)

Synonyms

to deoxygenate
vsto desaturate
  • Specialized
1 8.1

To remove oxygen from a liquid like water or blood

reduces oxygen level without fully removing it

Antonyms

to saturate
55 5.2

Make something so full of liquid or color that it can take no more

How Oxygenated

to oxygenate
  • Specialized
7 5.8
to desaturate
  • Specialized
7.4
to deoxygenate
  • Specialized
1 8.1

Surface Forms

desaturate infinitive
desaturated past
desaturated past participle
desaturating present participle
desaturates third person singular

Morphology

desaturate = saturate (semi-transparent) = de + saturate

Morphologically clear (de- + saturate) but the application to blood oxygen is domain-specific medical usage that an average learner may not infer from the base word alone.

Etymology

Desaturate comes from de- 'remove' and saturate 'fill full', and this idea also applies to oxygen in the blood. When a patient begins to desaturate, their blood is losing its 'fullness' of oxygen, so the oxygen level goes down.