assimilate

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   to become similar to one's environment

   Immigrants often want to assimilate quickly.

2. 2
   verb

   to make similar

   This country assimilates immigrants very quickly.

3. 3
   verb

   to become similar in sound

   The nasal assimilates to the following consonant.

4. 4
   verb

   to integrate a fact or skill into one's working knowledge

   I assimilated the cooking lessons quickly.

5. 5
   verb

   to take into a solution, especially gas, light, or heat

   The chemist assimilated carbon dioxide into the glucose solution.

6. 6
   verb

   To incorporate nutrients into the body, especially after digestion.

   Food is assimilated and converted into organic tissue.

7. 7
   verb

   To incorporate or absorb (knowledge) into the mind.

   The teacher paused in her lecture to allow the students to assimilate what she had said.

8. 8
   verb

   To absorb (a person or people) into a community or culture.

   The aliens in the science-fiction film wanted to assimilate human beings into their own race.

Etymology

First attested in the early 15ᵗʰ century, in Middle English; Middle English assimilaten (“to become similar; to make like”), from assimilat(e) (“assimilated”, also used as the past participal of assimilaten) + -en (verb-forming suffix), borrowed from Late Latin assimilātus, variant of Latin assimulātus (“made similar, imitated”), perfect passive participle of assimulō (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from ad + simulō (“to imitate, copy”), from similis (“like, similar”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sem- (“together, one”). Doublet of assemble.