saturate

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To cause to become completely permeated with, or soaked (especially with a liquid).

   Rain saturated their clothes.

2. 2
   verb

   To fill thoroughly or to excess.

   Modern television is saturated with violence.

3. 3
   verb

   To satisfy the affinity of; to cause a substance to become inert by chemical combination with all that it can hold.

   One can saturate phosphorus with chlorine.

4. 4
   noun

   Something saturated, especially a saturated fat.

   Through formation of a double bond, stearic acid (18:0), a saturate, is converted to acid (18:1), a monounsaturate.

The adjective is first attested in the second part of the 15ᵗʰ century, in Middle English, the verb in 1538, the noun in 1921; inherited from Middle English saturat(e) (“satiated, satisfied”), borrowed from Latin saturātus, perfect passive participle of saturō (“to fill, satisfy, quench”) (see -ate (etymology 1, 2 and 3)), from satur (“full”) + -ō (verb-forming suffix).

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