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Glite Dictionary
📈 Too full 🧪 Too much solute
oversaturated

oversaturated

6.8
Having more dissolved salt or sugar than a liquid can hold at that temperature
  • adjective
  • /ˌoʊvərˈsætʃʊˌreɪtɪd/
  • Specialized
translation icon : sobresaturado
  • The solution became oversaturated when too much salt was added until no more could dissolve.

Examples

  • In science class, we learned that an oversaturated solution will have undissolved particles settling at the bottom.

  • The 2.40:1/1080p high-definition presentation maintains the film's bright range of colors while never feeling oversaturated.

    Blog text (3)

  • If you add too many colors to your painting, it can look oversaturated and lose its vibrancy.

Synonyms

supersaturated
vsoversaturated
  • Specialized
8.3

A liquid that holds more salt or sugar mixed into it than it normally can, so crystals form

contains excess dissolved solute without mentioning pressure or equilibrium

Antonyms

unsaturated
  • Specialized
6.0

Able to dissolve more of a substance at the current temperature

How Saturated

oversaturated
  • Specialized
6.8
saturated
  • Specialized
5 4.7
unsaturated
  • Specialized
6.0

Surface Forms

oversaturated positive

Morphology

oversaturated = saturated (transparent) = over + saturate + ed

The adjective 'saturated' has the expected meaning and adding the productive prefix 'over-' yields the sense 'excessively saturated' in a straightforward way.

Etymology

Oversaturated comes from over- meaning 'too much' and saturate meaning 'to fill', and the same satur- idea appears in satisfy. So in chemistry an oversaturated solution is 'too full' of dissolved material and will often form crystals when it cools because it cannot hold the extra stuff.