pervade

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 26, 2012 is: pervade • \per-VAYD\  • verb : to become diffused throughout every part of Examples: Jennifer's new perfume was lovely, but she applied it with such a generous hand that the scent pervaded the entire room. "Lowballing pervades the home mortgage market because lenders being compared to other lenders usually have no other way to distinguish themselves." - From an article by Jack Guttentag in Inman News, March 5, 2012 Did you know? English speakers borrowed "pervade" in the mid-17th century from Latin "pervadere," meaning "to go through." "Pervadere," in turn, was formed by combining the prefix "per-," meaning "through," with the verb "vadere," meaning "to go." Synonyms of "pervade" include "permeate," "impregnate," and "saturate." "Pervade" stresses a spreading diffusion throughout every part of a whole ("art and music pervade every aspect of their lives"). "Permeate" implies diffusion specifically throughout a material thing ("a green dye permeating a garment"). "Impregnate" suggests a forceful influence or effect on something throughout ("impregnate the cotton with alcohol"). "Saturate" is used when nothing more may be taken up or absorbed ("cloth saturated with water"). See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.