assimilation

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   The process of a group taking on the customs and attitudes of a larger culture.

   The community resisted full assimilation in order to keep its traditions alive.

2. 2
   noun

   The process of taking in and understanding new ideas or information.

   Learning a language requires the steady assimilation of new vocabulary.

3. 3
   noun

   The body's absorption of nutrients from digested food.

   Good health depends on the proper assimilation of vitamins and minerals.

4. 4
   noun

   A sound change in which one speech sound becomes more like a nearby one.

   In rapid speech, assimilation makes "handbag" sound like "hambag".

Borrowed from Medieval Latin assimilatio. By surface analysis, assimilate + -ion.

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