saturation

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun The act or process of saturating.
• noun The condition of being saturated.
• noun The condition of being full to or beyond satisfaction; satiety.
• noun Physics A state of a ferromagnetic substance in which an increase in applied magnetic field strength does not produce an increase in magnetization.
• noun Chemistry The state of a compound or solution that is fully saturated.
• noun Meteorology A condition in which air at a specific temperature contains all the water vapor it can hold; 100 percent relative humidity.
• noun Vividness of hue; degree of difference from a gray of the same lightness or brightness.
• noun Intensive shelling or bombing of a military target to achieve total destruction.
• noun The flooding of a market with all of a commodity that consumers can purchase.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun The act of saturating or supplying to fullness, or the state of being saturated; complete penetration or impregnation.
• noun In the saturation of a liquid with a solid by solution, the quantity of the solid dissolved varies largely, in most cases, with varying temperature, the general rule being that rise of temperature is attended with increase in the quantity of the solid needed to produce saturation. In the saturation of a liquid with a dissolved gas the opposite relation prevails, as more of the gas is required to produce saturation at a low than at a high temperature, and in this case the influence of pressure is also very marked, increase of pressure being attended with increase in the quantity of gas needed to produce saturation.
• noun In biology, the hypothetical influence of an unborn offspring upon the body or the reproductive organs of the mother in such a way that children afterward borne by the mother to other sires resemble the first sire: a hypothesis to account for telegony. See telegony.
• noun In physical chemistry, the amount of a dissolved substance contained in a given volume of a solution, stated as a fraction of the amount of the dissolved substance contained in a solution saturated at the same temperature.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun The act of saturating, or the state of being saturating; complete penetration or impregnation.
• noun (Chem.) The act, process, or result of saturating a substance, or of combining it to its fullest extent.
• noun (Optics) Freedom from mixture or dilution with white; purity; -- said of colors.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun the act of saturating or the process of being saturated
• noun physics the condition in which, after a sufficient increase in a causal force, no further increase in the resultant effect is possible; e.g. the state of a ferromagnetic material that cannot be further magnetized
• noun chemistry the state of a saturated solution
• noun chemistry the state of an organic compound that has no double or triple bonds
• noun meteorology the state of the atmosphere when it is saturated with water vapour; 100% humidity
• noun the intensity or vividness of a colour
• noun intense bombing of a military target with the aim of destroying it
• noun the flooding of a market with all of a product that can be sold
• noun music an effect on the sound of an electric guitar, used primarily in heavy metal music

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun chromatic purity: freedom from dilution with white and hence vivid in hue
• noun the process of totally saturating something with a substance
• noun the act of soaking thoroughly with a liquid
• noun a condition in which a quantity no longer responds to some external influence