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Glite Dictionary
💧 To soak fully ⚗️ To fill completely
to saturate

to saturate

19 6.0
Make something hold as much of another substance as possible, for example salt in water
  • verb
  • /ˈsætʃəˌreɪt/
  • Specialized
translation icon : saturar
  • The sponge will saturate quickly in the water, soaking up all the liquid.
  • saturated fat
  • saturated fat intake
  • saturated fatty acid

Examples

  • So we're going to do both sides, flip them over and go ahead and saturate the other side.

  • Now, however, as the story comes to an end, horror and compassion saturate the tenor of the prayer.

    Academic text (1995)

  • We find the poem to be saturated with vibrant images: images of southern Iraq in particular.

    Academic text (1997)

  • My imagination became saturated with the materials of their cosmopolitan politics.

    Academic text (2015)

  • During summer months, the air sat still and gauzy, leaden with humidity, saturated with hydrocarbons.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • The stopper was fitted with a bamboo-handled brush, its soft bristles saturated with gleaming black ink.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • She used the dye to saturate the fabric, ensuring it reached its deepest color.

  • After the rain, the soil became saturated and was unable to absorb any more water.

Synonyms

to drench
vsto saturate
14 4.4

Fill something completely with a liquid or a strong feeling

implies reaching a strict full combination, not a metaphorical or emotional sense
to impregnate
vsto saturate
3 7.4

To fill something completely with a liquid or chemical

is a technical term meaning combined to the maximum possible amount
to sop
vsto saturate
  • Archaic
1 8.3

To make something take in liquid until it is very wet

is used for precise maximum combination rather than simple wetting

Antonyms

dilute
1 4.2

A liquid that is weaker after adding water

Phrasal Verbs

to saturate the market
1 5.3

To sell so many of a product that people stop buying more unless prices fall

How Saturated

to supersaturate
  • Specialized
1 8.2
to saturate
  • Specialized
19 6.0
to dilute
28 3.5

Surface Forms

saturate infinitive
saturated past
saturated past participle
saturating present participle
saturates third person singular

Etymology

Saturate comes from the Latin saturare meaning 'to make full', and it is the same idea behind the English word sated ('full'). In science this means filling to the limit, for example a solution is saturated when it cannot hold any more salt.