filtration

noun

fil·​tra·​tion fil-ˈtrā-shən 

1

: the process of filtering

2

: the process of passing through or as if through a filter

also : diffusion

Examples of filtration in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

As many across the area still don’t have running water, Samaritan’s Purse engineers have also installed three community water filtration systems that have produced over 270,000 liters of clean water. —Emily Hallas, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 20 Oct. 2024

The staging of chronic kidney disease is classified based on the glomerular filtration rate (GFR), which measures how well the kidneys are filtering blood. —Robert Burakoff, Verywell Health, 17 Oct. 2024

Cleanrooms are the critical locations where semiconductors are made and feature extensive filtration systems to keep out dust partices that can cause the electrical connections within chips to fail. —Russ Wiles, The Arizona Republic, 17 Oct. 2024

Directly measuring how well these glomeruli are functioning is possible but cumbersome, so instead doctors rely on blood levels of a protein called creatinine, a waste product produced by muscles and a by-product of protein metabolism, to estimate the glomerular filtration rate (GFR). —Cassandra Willyard, Scientific American, 15 Oct. 2024

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Middle French & Medieval Latin; Middle French, borrowed from Medieval Latin filtrātiōn-, filtrātiō, from filtrāre "to pass through a filter" + Latin -tiōn-, -tiō, suffix of verbal action — more at filtrate

First Known Use

1602, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

filtration

noun

fil·​tra·​tion fil-ˈtrā-shən 

: the act or process of filtering

Medical Definition

filtration

noun

fil·​tra·​tion fil-ˈtrā-shən 

1

: the process of filtering

2

: the process of passing through or as if through a filter

also : diffusion

the kidney produces urine by filtration