assimilation
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assimilation
- /əˌsɪməˈleɪʃən/
Rhymes with -eɪʃən
Where it comes from
Borrowed from Medieval Latin assimilatio. By surface analysis, assimilate + -ion.
noun assimilations
- The act of assimilating or the state of being assimilated. --France swarms with Gracchus's and Publicolas, who by imaginary assimilations of acts, which a change of manners has rendered different, fancy themselves more than equal to their prototypes.
- The metabolic conversion of nutrients into tissue. We have great need to be careful in these assimilations; some kinds of food are rich but not easily digested.
- The absorption of new ideas into an existing cognitive structure.
- A sound change process by which the phonetics of a speech segment becomes more like that of another segment in a word (or at a word boundary), so that a change of phoneme occurs. Hence, rather than being the result of mishearing and assimilation, the application of Hobson-Jobson to the Muharram was intentionally disparaging.
- The adoption, by a minority group, of the customs and attitudes of the dominant culture. After centuries of British cultural assimilation, a majority of Irish now speak English instead of Irish.
Opposite: dissimilation
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: acculturation, absorption, equalisation, integration, inclusion, incorporation, equality, correlation, internalization, characterization, lesson, equating, similarity, equivalence, comparison, equation
noun
Opposite: dissimilation
Translations
Every language
noun act or state
| Español | asimilación |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 동화 donghwa |
| 日本語 | 同化 dōka |
| 中文 | 同化 tónghuà, 吸收 xīshōu |
| Português | assimilação |
| Deutsch | Angleichung, Assimilation |
| Ελληνικά | αφομοίωση afomoíosi |
| Română | asimilare, asimilație |
| Русский | ассимиля́ция assimiljácija |
| Tiếng Việt | đồng hoá |
noun metabolic conversion
| 한국어 | 동화 donghwa |
|---|---|
| 日本語 | 同化 dōka |
| 中文 | 同化 tónghuà, 同化作用 tónghuà zuòyòng |
| Português | assimilação |
| Deutsch | Angleichung, Assimilation |
| Ελληνικά | αφομοίωση afomoíosi |
| Русский | усвое́ние usvojénije |
noun absorption of new ideas
| 中文 | 認知同化 /认知同化 rènzhī tónghuà, 吸收新知 xīshōu xīnzhī |
|---|---|
| Ελληνικά | αφομοίωση afomoíosi |
noun phonology: sound change process
| 한국어 | 동화 donghwa |
|---|---|
| 中文 | 語音同化 /语音同化 yǔyīn tónghuà, 同化作用 tónghuà zuòyòng |
| Português | assimilação |
| Français | assimilation |
| Deutsch | Assimilation |
| Ελληνικά | αφομοίωση afomoíosi |
| Русский | ассимиля́ция assimiljácija |
| Tiếng Việt | đồng hoá |
| العربية | مُمَاثَلَة mumāṯala, تَمَاثُل tamāṯul |
noun adoption of dominant culture
| 中文 | 文化同化 wénhuà tónghuà, 社會同化 /社会同化 shèhuì tónghuà |
|---|---|
| Ελληνικά | αφομοίωση afomoíosi |
Talk about this word "assimilation." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/assimilation. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. assimilation. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/assimilation "assimilation." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/assimilation.Cite this
@misc{assimilation_2026,
title = {assimilation},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/assimilation},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
