different between assimilate vs assimilation

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin assimil?tus, variant of Latin assimul?tus (“made similar, imitated”), perfect passive participle of assimul?, from ad + simul? (“imitate, copy”). Doublet of assemble.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /??s?m.?.le?t/

Verb

assimilate (third-person singular simple present assimilates, present participle assimilating, simple past and past participle assimilated)

1. (transitive) To incorporate nutrients into the body, especially after digestion.

   • Hence also it may be that the parts of animals and vegetables preserve their several forms and assimilate their nourishment

2. (transitive) To incorporate or absorb (knowledge) into the mind.
   • 1850, Charles Merivale, History of the Romans Under the Empire

     His mind had no power to assimilate the lessons.

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

4. (transitive, rare, used with "to" or "with") To liken, compare to something similar.
5. (transitive) To bring to a likeness or to conformity; to cause a resemblance between.
   • March 13, 1866, John Bright, The reform bill on the motion for leave to bring in the bill

     to assimilate our law in respect to the law of Scotland

   • Fast falls a fleecy shower; the downy flakes / Assimilate all objects.

   • 1676, Matthew Hale, Contemplations, Moral and Divine

     it doth , by degrees , assimilate the whole inward Man to this living Principle , and conforms the Life unto it

6. (intransitive) To become similar.
7. (intransitive) To be incorporated or absorbed into something.

Synonyms

• (incorporate or absorb knowledge into the mind): process
• (absorb a group of people into a community): integrate

Translations

Noun

assimilate

1. Something that is or has been assimilated.
   • 2012, A. Läuchli, R.L. Bieleski, Inorganic Plant Nutrition, ?ISBN, page 83

     the growing root and ectomycorrhizas both act as assimilate sinks

Italian

Verb

assimilate

1. second-person plural present of assimilare
2. second-person plural imperative of assimilare

Latin

Verb

assimil?te

1. second-person plural present active imperative of assimil?

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Medieval Latin assimilatio. Synchronically analysable as assimilate +? -ion.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??s?m??le???n/
• Rhymes: -e???n

Noun

assimilation (countable and uncountable, plural assimilations)

1. The act of assimilating or the state of being assimilated.
2. The metabolic conversion of nutrients into tissue.
3. (by extension) The absorption of new ideas into an existing cognitive structure.
5. (phonology) 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.
6. (sociology, cultural studies) The adoption, by a minority group, of the customs and attitudes of the dominant culture.

Derived terms

• (phonology): regressive assimilation, anticipatory assimilation, progressive assimilation, perseverative assimilation

Translations

See also

• liaison
• mutation
• rendaku
• sandhi

Anagrams

• Islamisation

Danish

Noun

assimilation c (singular definite assimilationen, plural indefinite assimilationer)

1. assimilation
2. (linguistics) assimilation
3. (sociology) assimilation

Declension

Coordinate terms

• (sociology): pluralistisk integration, segregation

Derived terms

• tvangsassimilation

Further reading

• “assimilation” in Den Danske Ordbog

French

Etymology

assimiler +? -ation

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.si.mi.la.sj??/

Noun

assimilation f (plural assimilations)

1. (phonology) assimilation

   Antonym: dissimilation

Derived terms

• assimilation progressive
• assimilation régressive

Further reading

• “assimilation” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).