porous
/ˈpɔːrəs
/adjective
1(Of a rock or other material) having minute interstices through which liquid or air may pass: layers of porous limestones some rocks are more porous than others...
- The result is the formation of solid structures of a porous calcium carbonate rock also known as travertine.
- Mudstones are the main source of oil and gas, although by the time the oil or gas is extracted it has usually migrated to porous rocks such as sandstones of limestones.
- Moreover, they can also be seen as potential shape-selective catalysts by analogy with the porous minerals, zeolites.
Synonyms
permeable, penetrable, pervious;
absorbent, sponge-like, spongy, sieve-like, leaky, honeycombed, cellular, open, holey
technical absorptive
rare percolative, cavernulous, leachy, porose, poriferous, spongiose, foraminous, pory
1.1Not retentive or secure: he ran through a porous home defence to score easily...
- Coming up next, how the man charged with this country's safety plans to secure our porous southern border.
- The captain's massive influence will be lost at a time when United's porous defence is allowing precious league points to leak away.
- He could not seem to hurt him, his defence was shockingly porous, and during most exchanges Sturm was a split-second ahead.
Derivatives
porosity
/ noun ...- Soil structure, or the size and arrangement of particles, determines the porosity of the soil.
- Soil aeration, porosity and water-holding capacity have been affected due to the reduced organic matter.
- When welding copper alloys containing these elements, porosity can be minimized by higher weld speeds and a filler metal low in these elements.
porously
porousness
- Based on the data, they try to describe around 10 features, including the porousness of the rock, the size of the reservoir, and the degree to which the reservoir is saturated with water instead of oil.
- There are obviously many degrees of cultural self-assertion, cultural defensiveness, cultural porousness and cultural boundaries.
- The porousness of the ‘nation’ as a category is most tellingly exhibited in the case of American subjects.
Origin
Late Middle English: from Old French poreux, based on Latin porus 'pore'.