impregnation

From Middle English impregnacioun, from Old French impregnacion, in turn from Late Latin impregnatio.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɪmpɹɛɡˈneɪʃən/

• Audio (Southern England)

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• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

impregnation (countable and uncountable, plural impregnations)

1. The act of making pregnant; fertilization.
2. The fact or process of imbuing or saturating with something; diffusion of some element, idea etc. through a medium or substance.
3. That with which anything is impregnated.
4. (geology) An ore deposit, with indefinite boundaries, consisting of rock impregnated with ore.
   • 1922, Intermountain Industry and Engineering: Official Publication: Utah Motor Transport Ass'n, volume 24:

     Oil-shales are often the last relics of a former impregnation with petroleum; they are associated with phenomena—such as the intrusive asphaltites or manjacks—common to petroliferous regions, but in many cases the parent oilfields, the sources of the former impregnation, are things of the past.

From Old French impregnacion, from Latin impregnatio.

• IPA^(key): /ĩːpreɳaˈsjũː/, /ĩːpreɡnaˈsjũː/, /-õː/

impregnation f (plural impregnations)

1. impregnation, fertilization
2. saturation, impregnation