sat·u·ra·tion

[sach-uh-rey-shuhn]
noun
1.
the act or process of saturating.
2.
the state of being saturated.
3.
Meteorology. a condition in the atmosphere corresponding to 100 percent relative humidity.
4.
the degree of chroma or purity of a color; the degree of freedom from admixture with white.
5.
Magnetism. the state of maximum magnetization of a ferromagnetic material.
Origin:
1545–55; < Late Latin saturātiōn- (stem of saturātiō) a filling, equivalent to saturāt(us) (see saturate) + -iōn- -ion

Related forms
de·sat·u·ra·tion, noun
non·sat·u·ra·tion, noun
o·ver·sat·u·ra·tion, noun
sub·sat·u·ra·tion, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
Cite This Source Link To saturation
00:10
Saturation is always a great word to know.
So is fair. Does it mean:
a bright, sunny, cloudless to half-cloudy sky, with no prospect of rain, snow, or hail; not stormy
a warning of high-wind conditions at sea that are expected to last for up to two hours, and generally result of thunderstorms or squall lines
LEARN MORE UNUSUAL WORDS WITH WORD DYNAMO...
Collins
World English Dictionary
saturation (ˌsætʃəˈreɪʃən) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
—n
1.  the act of saturating or the state of being saturated
2.  chem the state of a chemical compound, solution, or vapour when it is saturated
3.  meteorol the state of the atmosphere when it can hold no more water vapour at its particular temperature and pressure, the relative humidity then being 100 per cent
4.  See also colour the attribute of a colour that enables an observer to judge its proportion of pure chromatic colour
5.  physics the state of a ferromagnetic material in which it is fully magnetized. The magnetic domains are then all fully aligned
6.  electronics the state of a valve or semiconductor device that is carrying the maximum current of which it is capable and is therefore unresponsive to further increases of input signal
7.  the level beyond which demand for a product or service is not expected to increase
 
—modifier
8.  denoting the maximum possible intensity of coverage of an area: saturation bombing; a saturation release of a film

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
American Heritage
Medical Dictionary

saturation sat·u·ra·tion (sāch'ə-rā'shən)
n.
Abbr. sat.

  1. The act or process of saturating.

  2. The condition of being saturated.

  3. The condition of being full to or beyond satisfaction; satiety.

  4. Filling of all the available sites on an enzyme molecule by its substrate, or on a hemoglobin molecule by molecular oxygen or carbon monoxide.

  5. In optics, the degree which colors of the same wavelength are differentiated from one another on the basis of purity which correlates with the amount of white present, such as red from pink.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Cite This Source
American Heritage
Science Dictionary
saturation   (sāch'ə-rā'shən)  Pronunciation Key 

  1. The state of a physical system, such as a solution, containing as much of another substance, such as a solute, as is possible at a given temperature or pressure.

  2. The vividness of a color's hue. Saturation measures the degree to which a color differs from a gray of the same darkness or lightness. Compare hue, value.

  3. The state of being a saturated organic compound. See more at saturated.


The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
FOLDOC
Computing Dictionary

saturation definition


1. In colour theory, the "colourfulness" of a stimulus relative to its brightness, the amount of the dominant wavelength relative to other wavelengths in the colour, one of the three coordinates in the hue, saturation, value (HSV) and hue, saturation, brightness (HSB) colour models.
White, black and grey contain equal amounts of red, green and blue light and are completely unsaturated. A pure colour with very little gray in it is highly saturated. The amount of saturation does not affect the hue of a colour and is unrelated to the value (total amount of light in a colour).
There are several competing mathematical definitions of saturation.
(http://www.ncsu.edu/scivis/lessons/colormodels/color_models2.html#saturation).
(http://www.pomona.edu/academics/courserelated/classprojects/visual-lit/saturation/saturation.html).
2. The state of any system that is operating at its maximum capacity, e.g. a network connection that is carry a continuous stream of data with no idle time. Capacity planning aims to monitor load and increase resources before saturation is reached.
(2008-05-09)

The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, © Denis Howe 2010 http://foldoc.org
Cite This Source
Example sentences
Apparently that's because no new air is added to the lungs during the dive,
  preventing super-saturation of the blood.
More importantly, the color saturation and tonal range manage not to fade at
  higher speeds.
If you increase saturation too much it will wreak havoc on skin tones.
Color saturation is enhanced with almost any subject.
Partners:WordBloglinesCitysearchThe Daily BeastAsk AnswersAsk KidsLife123SendoriHome Advisor
Copyright © 2013 Dictionary.com, LLC. All rights reserved.
About PRIVACY POLICY Terms API Careers Advertise with Us Contact Us Suggest a Word Help
  • Please Login or Sign Up to use the Recent Searches feature
FAVORITES
RECENT