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reverse osmosis

reverse osmosis

1 4.5
A process that makes water clean by forcing it through a thin layer to stop salt and dirt
  • noun
  • /rɪˈvɜrs ˌɑsˈmoʊsɪs/
  • Specialized
translation icon : ósmosis inversa
  • The technology most frequently referred to when talking about membrane desalination is reverse osmosis.
  • reverse osmosis membrane
  • reverse osmosis system
  • reverse osmosis plant

Nothing, Nobody drinks a drop of water or cooks with a drop of water in this house that doesn't go through the reverse osmosis filtration system.

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Examples

  • The reverse osmosis system installed in our home removes contaminants from drinking water.

  • Both plan to employ reverse osmosis, a membrane-technology filtration process also used to clean brackish groundwater.

    Blog text (25)
  • But when we owned our home in Hawaii, we installed a reverse osmosis system.

    Blog text (16)
  • You can get rid of all the forever chemicals if you have a reverse osmosis filter.

  • And reverse osmosis is the overwhelming choice when it comes to desalination methods.

    Academic text (2004)
  • Probably the best-known of these processes is reverse osmosis (RO).

    Academic text (2003)
  • Aqua True Purifiers use a four stage reverse osmosis purification process, and their countertop purifiers work with no installation or plug.

  • Reverse osmosis is commonly used in aquariums to provide fish with clean and safe water.

  • Many industries rely on reverse osmosis to purify water for their production processes.

How Effective

distillation
  • Specialized
1 5.9
reverse osmosis
  • Specialized
1 4.5

Surface Forms

Morphology

reverse + osmosis

The meaning is directly compositional: 'reverse' (to make opposite) applied to 'osmosis' (the process of solvent passing through a membrane) yields the process that reverses normal osmosis, i.e., forcing solvent the other way typically by applying pressure. Although the term is technical, its semantics follow transparent combination of the constituents and would be inferable by a learner who knows both words.

Etymology

The noun reverse osmosis describes forcing water the opposite way to how it would move by osmosis, with reverse motion pushing the water through a thin filter that only lets water pass and leaves salt and dirt behind. Imagine pushing seawater through a fine wall so clean water comes out, which is why it means 'a process to purify water'.