different between saturate vs supersaturate

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin satur?tus, perfect passive participle of satur?re (“to fill full”), from satur (“full”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?sæt????e?t/

Verb

saturate (third-person singular simple present saturates, present participle saturating, simple past and past participle saturated)

1. To cause to become completely impregnated, or soaked (especially with a liquid).
   • 1815, in the Annals of Philosophy, volume 6, page 332:

     Suppose, on the contrary, that a piece of charcoal saturated with hydrogen gas is put into a receiver filled with carbonic acid gas, […]

2. (figuratively) To fill to excess.

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

4. (optics) To render pure, or of a colour free from white light.

Related terms

Translations

Noun

saturate (plural saturates)

1. (chemistry) Something saturated, especially a saturated fat.
   • 1999, Tom Brody, Nutritional Biochemistry, Academic Press (?ISBN), page 363

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

Adjective

saturate (comparative more saturate, superlative most saturate)

1. Saturated; wet.
2. (entomology) Very intense.

Further reading

• saturate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• saturate in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• saturate at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• artuates, taurates, tuateras

Ido

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /satu?rate/

Verb

saturate

1. adverbial present passive participle of saturar

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sa.tu?ra.te/

Adjective

saturate

1. feminine plural of saturato

Verb

saturate

1. second-person plural present indicative of saturare
2. second-person plural imperative of saturare
3. feminine plural of the past participle of saturare

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /sa.tu?ra?.te/, [s?ät????ä?t??]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /sa.tu?ra.te/, [s?t?u????t??]

Verb

satur?te

1. second-person plural present active imperative of satur?

English

Etymology

super- +? saturate

Verb

supersaturate (third-person singular simple present supersaturates, present participle supersaturating, simple past and past participle supersaturated)

1. To cause a solution to have more solute dissolved in it than it can stably contain at current conditions.

   In science class the teacher prepared a supersaturated solution by cooling a saturated solution. He then added a small seed crystal and a large precipitate formed in just a second.

Translations