osmosis

What it means

1. countableuncountablechemistryThe net movement of solvent molecules, usually water, from a region of lower solute concentration to a region of higher solute concentration through a partially permeable membrane.
2. countablefigurativelyuncountablePassive absorption or impartation of information, habits, etc.; the process of teaching or learning particular knowledge incidentally rather than consciously.

   Near-synonym: serendipity

   2 more examples

   I was reading about chickens, and I guess I learned about hawks through osmosis.

   At age fourteen, by a process of osmosis, of dirty jokes, whispered secrets and filthy ballads, Tristram learned of sex.

   1999, Neil Gaiman, Stardust (Perennial paperback), published 2001, pages 36–37

   Synonyms: serendipity

In a sentence

Near-synonym: serendipity

Where it comes from

1. Ancient Greekὠσμός“push, impulsion”
2. Ancient Greekἔξω“outer, external”
3. Ancient Greekἔνδον“within”
4. Englishosmosis

From endosmose and exosmose, both coined by French physician Henri Dutrochet in 1826; from (respectively) Ancient Greek ἔνδον (éndon, “within”) and Ancient Greek ἔξω (éxō, “outer, external”), plus Ancient Greek ὠσμός (ōsmós, “push, impulsion”), from ὠθέω (ōthéō).