SATURATION

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does saturation mean? 

• SATURATION (noun)
  The noun SATURATION has 4 senses:

1. the process of totally saturating something with a substance

2. the act of soaking thoroughly with a liquid

3. a condition in which a quantity no longer responds to some external influence

4. chromatic purity: freedom from dilution with white and hence vivid in hue

  Familiarity information: SATURATION used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SATURATION (noun)

Sense 1

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 ("saturation" is a kind of...):

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

Holonyms ("saturation" 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)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The act of soaking thoroughly with a liquid

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

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

filling (the act of filling something)

Derivation:

saturate (cause (a chemical compound, vapour, solution, magnetic material) to unite with the greatest possible amount of another substance)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A condition in which a quantity no longer responds to some external influence

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

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

condition; status (a state at a particular time)

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

saturation point ((chemistry) the stage at which a substance will receive no more of another substance in solution or in a vapor)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Chromatic purity: freedom from dilution with white and hence vivid in hue

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

chroma; intensity; saturation; vividness

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

color property (an attribute of color)

Holonyms ("saturation" is a substance of...):

chromatic color; chromatic colour; spectral color; spectral colour (a color that has hue)

 Context examples 

The determination of the oxygen-hemoglobin saturation of a volume of blood.

(Oxygen Saturation Measurement, NCI Thesaurus)

Oxygen saturation usually is measured using pulse oximetry.

(High Blood Oxygen Saturation, NCI Thesaurus)

This protein plays a role in catalyzing saturation and desaturation of fatty acids.

(Fatty Acid Desaturase 1, NCI Thesaurus)

The study used data from the Community Earth System Model (CESM) to forecast ocean acidification under several CO2 emission assumption scenarios, looking at changes in calcium carbonate saturation.

(Marine organisms in Southern Ocean will face shallower zone for life, National Science Foundation)

The passage of a catheter into the left ventricle for the purposes of angiography, measurement of ventricular pressures, and/or oxygen saturation.

(Left Heart Catheterization, NCI Thesaurus)

A device designed to measure oxygen saturation in arterial blood.

(Oximeter Device Component, NCI Thesaurus)

The study confirmed that land-use zones with intact forest cover have significantly higher soundscape saturation.

(Scientists record the sound of intact forest, SciDev.Net)

Any of a group of colors reddish in hue, of medium to high lightness, and of low to moderate saturation.

(Pink, NCI Thesaurus)

Any of a group of colors between red and yellow in hue that are medium to low in lightness and low to moderate in saturation.

(Brown, NCI Thesaurus)

The appearance of objects (or light sources) described in terms of a person's perception of their hue and lightness (or brightness) and saturation.

(Color, NCI Thesaurus)