SUFFUSION

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does suffusion mean? 

• SUFFUSION (noun)
  The noun SUFFUSION has 1 sense:

1. the process of permeating or infusing something with a substance

  Familiarity information: SUFFUSION used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SUFFUSION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The process of permeating or infusing something with a substance

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural processes

Synonyms:

permeation; pervasion; suffusion

Hypernyms ("suffusion" is a kind of...):

diffusion ((physics) the process in which there is movement of a substance from an area of high concentration of that substance to an area of lower concentration)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "suffusion"):

ammonification (impregnation with ammonia or a compound of ammonia)

carbonation (saturation with carbon dioxide (as soda water))

impregnation; saturation (the process of totally saturating something with a substance)

Derivation:

suffuse (cause to spread or flush or flood through, over, or across)

suffuse (to become overspread as with a fluid, a colour, a gleam of light)

 Context examples 

The suffusion of the brain will increase quickly, so we must trephine at once or it may be too late.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

The dim forehead was crowned with a star; the lineaments below were seen as through the suffusion of vapour; the eyes shone dark and wild; the hair streamed shadowy, like a beamless cloud torn by storm or by electric travail.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

The Professor thought a moment and said:—We must reduce the pressure and get back to normal conditions, as far as can be; the rapidity of the suffusion shows the terrible nature of his injury.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)