Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Partially permeable.
  • adjective Allowing passage of certain, especially small, molecules or ions but acting as a barrier to others. Used of biological and synthetic membranes.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Capable of permitting the passage of certain molecules and of impeding that of others; said of membranes or septa which are permeable to the molecules of a solvent such as water, but which prevent the diffusion of the molecules of the dissolved substance.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Describing something that is permeable to some things and not to others, as a cell membrane which allows some molecules through but blocks others substances.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective (of a membrane) selectively permeable

Etymologies

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Examples

  • The matter of what exactly cures us is not unrelated to other themes that have run through this book, in particular that of the semipermeable soul and “who shall I say is calling?”

    In the Valley of the Shadow James L. Kugel 2011

  • People who believe in God generally believe whether they know it or not in precisely such a semipermeable membrane separating an outside Deity from an inside “me.”

    In the Valley of the Shadow James L. Kugel 2011

  • Whatever its origins and past history—in fact, precisely because of what we know of its origins—does not the semipermeable soul now look like a mistake, a misstep on the path to the true understanding of ourselves?

    In the Valley of the Shadow James L. Kugel 2011

  • Whatever its origins and past history—in fact, precisely because of what we know of its origins—does not the semipermeable soul now look like a mistake, a misstep on the path to the true understanding of ourselves?

    In the Valley of the Shadow James L. Kugel 2011

  • Is not our modern way of seeing, or not seeing, very much tied to the sealed-off self that we now construe, a somewhat different organ from the semipermeable soul it has replaced?

    In the Valley of the Shadow James L. Kugel 2011

  • People who believe in God generally believe whether they know it or not in precisely such a semipermeable membrane separating an outside Deity from an inside “me.”

    In the Valley of the Shadow James L. Kugel 2011

  • The matter of what exactly cures us is not unrelated to other themes that have run through this book, in particular that of the semipermeable soul and “who shall I say is calling?”

    In the Valley of the Shadow James L. Kugel 2011

  • Needless to say, this has the most profound implications for the semipermeable soul.

    In the Valley of the Shadow James L. Kugel 2011

  • Is not our modern way of seeing, or not seeing, very much tied to the sealed-off self that we now construe, a somewhat different organ from the semipermeable soul it has replaced?

    In the Valley of the Shadow James L. Kugel 2011

  • Needless to say, this has the most profound implications for the semipermeable soul.

    In the Valley of the Shadow James L. Kugel 2011

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