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sat·u·ra·tion (săchə-rāshən)
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n.
1.
a. The act or process of saturating.
b. The condition of being saturated.
c. The condition of being full to or beyond satisfaction; satiety.
2. Physics A state of a ferromagnetic substance in which an increase in applied magnetic field strength does not produce an increase in magnetization.
3. Chemistry The state of a compound or solution that is fully saturated.
4. Meteorology A condition in which air at a specific temperature contains all the water vapor it can hold; 100 percent relative humidity.
5. Vividness of hue; degree of difference from a gray of the same lightness or brightness. Also called intensity. See Table at color.
6. Intensive shelling or bombing of a military target to achieve total destruction.
7. The flooding of a market with all of a commodity that consumers can purchase.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

    Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

    Indo-European Roots

    Semitic Roots

    The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.