IMPREGNATION

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does impregnation mean? 

• IMPREGNATION (noun)
  The noun IMPREGNATION has 3 senses:

1. material with which something is impregnated

2. the process of totally saturating something with a substance

3. creation by the physical union of male and female gametes; of sperm and ova in an animal or pollen and ovule in a plant

  Familiarity information: IMPREGNATION used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• IMPREGNATION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Material with which something is impregnated

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Context example:

the impregnation, whatever it was, had turned the rock blue

Hypernyms ("impregnation" is a kind of...):

material; stuff (the tangible substance that goes into the makeup of a physical object)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The process of totally saturating something with a substance

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural processes

Synonyms:

impregnation; saturation

Context example:

the saturation of cotton with ether

Hypernyms ("impregnation" is a kind of...):

permeation; pervasion; suffusion (the process of permeating or infusing something with a substance)

Holonyms ("impregnation" is a part of...):

plastination (a process involving fixation and dehydration and forced impregnation and hardening of biological tissues; water and lipids are replaced by curable polymers (silicone or epoxy or polyester) that are subsequently hardened)

Derivation:

impregnate (infuse or fill completely)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Creation by the physical union of male and female gametes; of sperm and ova in an animal or pollen and ovule in a plant

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Synonyms:

fecundation; fertilisation; fertilization; impregnation

Hypernyms ("impregnation" is a kind of...):

conception; creation (the event that occurred at the beginning of something)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "impregnation"):

pollenation; pollination (transfer of pollen from the anther to the stigma of a plant)

cross-fertilisation; cross-fertilization (fertilization by the union of male and female gametes from different individual of the same species)

self-fertilisation; self-fertilization (fertilization by the union of male and female gametes from the same individual)

superfecundation (fertilization of two or more ova released during the same menstrual cycle by sperm from separate acts of coitus (especially by different males))

superfetation (fertilization of a second ovum after a pregnancy has begun; results in two fetuses of different ages in the uterus at the same time)

Derivation:

impregnate (make pregnant)

impregnate (fertilize and cause to grow)

 Context examples 

The prevention of conception or impregnation by the use of devices or drugs or surgery.

(Contraception, NCI Thesaurus)

The method by which conception or impregnation is prevented.

(Birth Control Method, NCI Thesaurus)