OSMOSIS

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does osmosis mean? 

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

1. (biology, chemistry) diffusion of molecules through a semipermeable membrane from a place of higher concentration to a place of lower concentration until the concentration on both sides is equal

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

 Dictionary entry details 

• OSMOSIS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

(biology, chemistry) diffusion of molecules through a semipermeable membrane from a place of higher concentration to a place of lower concentration until the concentration on both sides is equal

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural processes

Hypernyms ("osmosis" 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)

Domain category:

biological science; biology (the science that studies living organisms)

chemical science; chemistry (the science of matter; the branch of the natural sciences dealing with the composition of substances and their properties and reactions)

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

reverse osmosis ((chemistry) a method of producing pure water; a solvent passes through a semipermeable membrane in a direction opposite to that for natural osmosis when it is subjected to a hydrostatic pressure greater than the osmotic pressure)

Holonyms ("osmosis" is a part of...):

dialysis (separation of substances in solution by means of their unequal diffusion through semipermeable membranes)

Derivation:

osmotic (of or relating to osmosis)

 Context examples 

Having to do with osmosis (the passage of a liquid through a membrane from a less concentrated solution to a more concentrated one).

(Osmosis, NCI Dictionary)

The type of drinking water that is planned to be provided to the subjects in a set (e.g., tap water, acidified, reverse osmosis, etc.).

(Drinking Water, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)

While the researchers acknowledge that implementing this process in conventional reverse osmosis systems is taxing, they propose a spiral-wound module system, similar to a roll of towels.

(Novel Technology Uses Bacteria for Cleaning Water, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Electro-osmosis describes the active transport of non-ionized solutes associated with the bulk flow of fluid in the direction of the counter-ions that occurs with iontophoretic transport of other, ionized solutes.

(Electro-osmosis Route of Administration, NCI Thesaurus)