POROUS

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does porous mean? 

• POROUS (adjective)
  The adjective POROUS has 3 senses:

1. able to absorb fluids

2. full of pores or vessels or holes

3. allowing passage in and out

  Familiarity information: POROUS used as an adjective is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• POROUS (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Able to absorb fluids

Context example:

compacting the soil to make it less porous

Similar:

permeable (allowing fluids or gases to pass or diffuse through)

Derivation:

porosity; porousness (the property of being porous; being able to absorb fluids)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Full of pores or vessels or holes

Synonyms:

poriferous; porous

Similar:

porose (forming a continuous series of pores)

Antonym:

nonporous (not porous; especially not having vessels that appear as pores)

Derivation:

pore (any small opening in the skin or outer surface of an animal)

porosity (the property of being porous; being able to absorb fluids)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Allowing passage in and out

Synonyms:

holey; porous

Context example:

our unfenced and largely unpoliced border inevitably has been very porous

Similar:

leaky (permitting the unwanted passage of fluids or gases)

Derivation:

pore (any tiny hole admitting passage of a liquid (fluid or gas))

 Context examples 

A lower density likely means that at least part of Mars’ crust is relatively porous.

(New Gravity Map Suggests Mars Has a Porous Crust, NASA)

Rather than a solid ice layer, there is likely to be a porous mixture of rocky materials in which ice fills the pores, researchers found.

(Where is the Ice on Ceres?, NASA)

A disorder characterized by the decay of a tooth, in which it becomes softened, discolored and/or porous.

(Caries, NCI Thesaurus/CTCAE)

Its low density makes Hyperion quite porous, with weak surface gravity.

(Cassini Prepares for Last Up-close Look at Hyperion, NASA)

Adult human fat-derived stem cells obtained from liposuction waste were seeded onto the outer surface of the porous scaffolds.

(Stem cells grown on scaffold mimic hip joint cartilage, NIH)

Earlywood is more porous than latewood, and often lighter in color.

(Earlywood, NOAA Paleoclimate Glossary)

The decay of a tooth, in which it becomes softened, discolored, and/or porous.

(Caries, NCI Thesaurus)

Their simulations show that as Enceladus orbits Saturn, rocks in the porous core flex and rub together, generating heat.

(Powering Saturn's Active Ocean Moon, NASA)

Gel permeation or sieve chromatography that is performed on porous gels that separate solutes on the basis of size.

(Gel Filtration Chromatography, NCI Thesaurus)

"This study combines geophysical and geochemical data to infer how porous space is created in the subsurface," said Lina Patino, director of NSF's Division of Earth Sciences.

(Study explores how rock expands near soil surface in Sierra Nevada, National Science Foundation)