1Cause (something) to become thoroughly soaked with water or other liquid so that no more can be absorbed.

1. 1.1Cause (a substance) to combine with, dissolve, or hold the greatest possible quantity of another substance.
   ‘the groundwater is saturated with calcium hydroxide’
   More example sentences

   • ‘Eventually, the surface of the activated charcoal will be saturated with absorbed pollutants and no further purification will occur.’
   • ‘The liqueur is saturated with sugar, so I expected the viscosity to be high, but it also contains 43% alcohol.’
   • ‘To be fully active, osteocalcin must be saturated with carboxyl groups, and that's vitamin K's job.’
   • ‘If the surface film of water is saturated with oxygen there will be no further diffusion until oxygen diffuses from the surface film into the overall body of water.’
   • ‘The drug is most commonly taken by mouth, and only rarely injected, but occasionally tobacco is saturated with LSD and then smoked.’
   • ‘Polyethylene pellets, saturated with melted paraffin, then mixed with wet gypsum and compressed in sheet form, also yield production quality drywall.’
   • ‘Although the core materials are saturated in resins, the planks can still swell from excessive amounts of moisture.’
   • ‘You also should know that charcoal filters may become saturated with the chemical impurities they remove, and, for that reason, they have a limited lifetime.’
   • ‘This water emerges saturated with oxygen that is able to kill germs, build bodily strength and support the immune system.’
   • ‘In the Pacific Northwest, for example, apple growers adorn their trees with dispensers that saturate the air with the chemical sex attractant, or pheromone, of female codling moths.’
   • ‘And because the pleats have more area it takes three times longer for the filter to become saturated with dust and dirt.’
   • ‘However, bacterial decomposition had saturated the Vasa's oaken beams with hydrogen sulfide, which eventually created a huge reservoir of sulfur.’
   • ‘After 5 days of eating broccoli or oil fortified with vitamin K, says Booth, more osteocalcin was saturated with carboxyl groups.’
   • ‘When the resin becomes saturated with calcium and magnesium, it must be recharged.’
2. 1.2Magnetize or charge (a substance or device) fully.
3. 1.3Electronics Put (a device) into a state in which no further increase in current is achievable.
4. 1.4Fill (something or someone) with something until no more can be held or absorbed.
   ‘the air is saturated with the smells of food’
   More example sentences

   • ‘Gran opens one of the containers and immediately the dog's nostrils are saturated with a powerful chemical smell.’
   • ‘After 45 solid minutes I was totally saturated with information and all sorts of flashing images.’
   • ‘Recently, the popular music sector was saturated with boy bands, girl groups and choreographed vocalists in the wake of the fall of grunge.’
   • ‘The choice of material is excellent and the performance is saturated with soul.’
   • ‘The discourse of all major speakers is saturated with religious ideas, sometimes explicitly.’
   • ‘Today's media is saturated with images of male physiques that cannot be achieved without the help of steroids.’
   • ‘The editorial is there to deliver readers to the advertisers and most of it is utterly saturated with the concerns and values of the advertising that surrounds it.’
   • ‘His books are saturated with mirrors, windows, diaries, memories, travels, dreams, narcissism, and gazing.’
   • ‘Although it may seem like we're saturated with credit cards these days, the bank claims we are woefully inadequate with our plastic when compared to the United States.’
   • ‘Our culture is saturated with stereotypical expectations for both girls and boys.’
   • ‘As a result, the Arabic food vocabulary is as saturated with Persian words as English is with French.’
   • ‘Do you then saturate yourself in source materials and then write, or do you have the materials out in front of you when you're writing?’
   • ‘The Western world, particularly the U.S., is saturated with information technology.’
   • ‘These songs are by no means depressing, instead they are sensual and saturated with lush instrumentation and brass percussion.’
   • ‘If you've seen the commercials, you already know that the film is an aesthetic marvel, saturated with color and light and visual decadence.’
   • ‘Interest in amateur blogs may fade once the medium becomes saturated with professional content.’
   • ‘What was once dairy farms and dirt roads is now one of the city's most vibrant and cohesive communities, saturated with stylish shops and bars so popular that patrons spill out onto the street.’
   • ‘It's everywhere, saturating airwaves and club sound systems at an epidemic rate.’
   • ‘What's worse, agribusiness is saturating the media with misleading reports of the purported ecological risks of organic and other environmentally sustainable agricultural practices.’
   • ‘The film is shot on grainy stock: some scenes are saturated in white; a few have a cold blue tint; others a homely yellow or brown.’
   Synonyms

   permeate, impregnate, suffuse, imbue, pervade, steep, charge, infuse, inform, fill, spread throughout

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5. 1.5Supply (a market) beyond the point at which the demand for a product is satisfied.
   ‘Japan's electronics industry began to saturate the world markets’
   More example sentences

   • ‘It's the nature of business to take a profitable idea and exploit it until the market is utterly saturated with similar product and demand dries up as a result.’
   • ‘With 508 stores in the U.S. and 114 in Canada, the company is perilously close to saturating the market.’
   • ‘For instance, the company built on its early success by saturating a local market with multiple locations.’
   • ‘Indeed, some analysts give the company only two years at most before it saturates the U.S. market.’
   • ‘He sees expansion beyond Singapore's boundaries as the only way to avoid the slow profit growth that comes to a company that has saturated its home market.’
   • ‘Pat was doing all her business in New York City, and it looked as though she might have saturated the market there.’
   • ‘You saturate the market, and you have to move to another location and open another store.’
   • ‘‘I'll go into a city in advance and saturate the market,’ he says.’
   • ‘It also illustrates how they successfully penetrated the European car market which was already saturated with a large number of competitors.’
   • ‘Once the large industrial distilleries saturated the market with a better product at a lower cost this drove the little distilleries out of business but there were taste preferences persisting in consumers.’
   • ‘If that number's shrinking, how can you predict a larger sales number when we saturate most of the market already?’
   • ‘After they open there, they will probably have saturated the Boston region.’
   • ‘It's assumed both stores operate at a loss, staying in business to saturate the market and not give up the edge.’
   • ‘Industry observers say the Swiss market is saturated with too many banks chasing too few Swiss francs.’
   • ‘The market is soon saturated with imported automobiles, electronic gadgetry, luxurious home appliances and name-brand whisky.’
   • ‘In Europe where the car market was already saturated with global players, the company concentrated on car sales rather than production.’
   • ‘The market is saturated with this sort of heavy, but melodic guitar-based rock, and there isn't really a wrinkle or gimmick to help attract listeners.’
   • ‘The comic book itself has changed since the days when the market was saturated with mass-produced comics.’
   • ‘The PC market is saturated with hard disk drives.’
   Synonyms

   flood, glut, swamp, oversupply, overfill, overload

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6. 1.6Overwhelm (an enemy target area) by concentrated bombing.
   ‘The grenades burst out from the warhead at 150m from the target, saturating a large area with deadly explosive power.’
   More example sentences

   • ‘The target area would be saturated, that was certain, but Erik doubted whether it would work or not.’

A saturated fat.

Saturated with moisture.