permeation

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   the process of spreading through and becoming present throughout a substance, place, group, or system

   The permeation of smoke through the building forced everyone outside.

2. 2
   noun

   the passage of a liquid, gas, or dissolved substance through a porous or permeable material

   Engineers measured hydrogen permeation through the metal membrane.

3. 3
   noun

   politics: a strategy of gradually spreading ideas or influence from within established institutions

   Fabian permeation sought incremental reform by influencing existing parties and public bodies.

From permeate + -ion, ultimately from Latin permeare ("to pass through"), formed from per- ("through") + meare ("to go, pass"). The political sense extends physical spreading to the gradual transmission of ideas through institutions.

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