[mass noun](Biology & Chemistry)a process by which molecules of a solvent tend to pass through a semipermeable membrane from a less concentrated solution into a more concentrated one (生,化)渗透(作用) ■(figurative)the process of gradual or unconscious assimilation of ideas, knowledge, etc (喻)潜移默化,耳濡目染;逐渐同化 by some strange political osmosis, private reputations became public. 通过某种奇怪的政治上的潜移默化,私人声誉变得人人皆知了。
派生 osmotic adjective osmotically adverb 语源
mid 19th cent.: Latinized form of earlier osmose, from Greek ōsmos 'a push'