assimilation
NounUS[uh-sim-uh-ley-shuhn]/əˌsɪməˈleɪʃən/5 syllables
Open English WordNet
Noun (6)
- the state of being assimilated; people of different backgrounds come to see themselves as part of a larger national familyType of relationship
- the social process of absorbing one cultural group into harmony with anotherSynonyms: absorptionType of social processKinds Westernization, Anglicization, Europeanization, Americanization
- the process of absorbing nutrients into the body after digestionSynonyms: absorptionType of organic process, biological processKinds anabolism, malabsorption
- a linguistic process by which a sound becomes similar to an adjacent soundType of linguistic process
- the process of assimilating new ideas into an existing cognitive structureSynonyms: acculturationType of education
- in the theories of Jean Piaget: the application of a general schema to a particular instanceType of developmental learning
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onerousadjective
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Webster's Dictionary (1913)
As·sim′i·la′tion (…), noun
Origin: L. assimilatio: cf. F. assimilation.
1. The act or process of assimilating or bringing to a resemblance, likeness, or identity; also, the state of being so assimilated; as, the assimilation of one sound to another.
To aspire to an assimilation with God.— Dr. Henry More
The assimilation of gases and vapors.— Sir John Frederick William Herschel
2. Physiology The conversion of nutriment into the fluid or solid substance of the body, by the processes of digestion and absorption, whether in plants or animals.
Not conversing the body, not repairing it by assimilation, but preserving it by ventilation.— Sir Thomas Browne
☞ The term assimilation has been limited by some to the final process by which the nutritive matter of the blood is converted into the substance of the tissues and organs.
Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54