Pervasion

Pervasion is the act or process by which something spreads through or penetrates a space, substance, or system, to a broad degree. It denotes the state of being thoroughly penetrated or filled, rather than merely present in part. The term derives from Latin pervadere, meaning “to go through, overspread.”

In social and cultural contexts, pervasion describes how ideas, norms, or media reach wide audiences and become embedded in everyday life. In information technology, the term is closely associated with pervasive or ubiquitous computing—an idea popularized in the late 20th century by researchers such as Mark Weiser—where computing is embedded into everyday objects and environments so that technology becomes invisible and seamless.

In environmental and physical sciences, pervasion can describe substances that spread through a medium, such as pollutants that pervade air or water, or materials that permeate tissues. In biology and medicine, pathogens may pervade organs or body compartments; in materials science, solvents or additives may pervade materials to influence properties.

Assessments of pervasion typically involve measures of reach, penetration, or ubiquity, such as penetration depth, prevalence, diffusion rate, or time to saturation. It is related to, but not identical with, diffusion or diffusion-like processes, and emphasizes thorough integration or infiltration.