The verb saturate means to cause something to be fully soaked to the point where it can't take on anything else. A heavy rainstorm can saturate the ground, leaving puddles on the lawn because no more water can be absorbed.

The word saturate comes from the Latin word saturatus, meaning "to fill full, sate, drench." Saturate is often used to describe the aftermath of a big rainstorm, but other things can be saturated as well. If you're a workaholic, you might saturate all your free time with work, leaving no time to spend with your family. In chemistry, saturate describes causing one substance, like a solution, to take on the greatest amount of another substance.

Definitions of saturate

v infuse or fill completely

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impregnate with a medicinal substance
alcoholise, alcoholize
treat or infuse with alcohol
imbue, soak
fill, soak, or imbue totally
treat with ammonia; cause to undergo ammonification
impregnate with thorium oxide to increase thermionic emission
treat with grease, fill, and prepare for mounting
drench, imbrue
permeate or impregnate
infuse, steep
let sit in a liquid to extract a flavor or to cleanse
sit or let sit in boiling water so as to extract the flavor
Type of:
fill, fill up, make full
make full, also in a metaphorical sense

v cause (a chemical compound, vapour, solution, magnetic material) to unite with the greatest possible amount of another substance

Type of:
alter, change, modify
cause to change; make different; cause a transformation