assimilation
noun/əˌsɪməˈleɪʃən/
Etymology Borrowed from Medieval Latin assimilatio. By surface analysis, assimilate + -ion.
1
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.1797, An English Lady, A Residence in France During the Years 1792, 1793, 1794 and 1795,:
- His work generally is full of assimilations and quotations from art that is not Mexican, and he's said, "Nationalism has nothing to do with my work.1996 January 26, Bertha Husband, “Double Identity”, in Chicago Reader:
2
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.1908, Washington Gladden, The Church and Modern Life:
3
Broadly The absorption of new ideas into an existing cognitive structure.
4
Human sciences, Linguistics, Phonology, Sciences 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.2014, James Lambert, “A Much Tortured Expression: A New Look At `Hobson-Jobson'”, in International Journal of Lexicography, volume 27, number 1, page 59:
5
Human sciences, Sciences, Social science, Sociology The adoption, by a minority group, of the customs and attitudes of the dominant culture.
Cultural studies
- After centuries of British cultural assimilation, a majority of Irish now speak English instead of Irish.
- Assimilation was one of the words they used for Indians becoming white in order to survive, in order that they might not be killed for being Indians.2024, Tommy Orange, Wandering Stars, Harvill Secker, page 55:
1 more example
- I do not use those terms to describe the purpose or the effects of particular federal Indian law doctrines in promoting the assimilation of Indians and Indian tribes into non-Indian culture or the general American polity.2024 September 30, Michael Doran, “EXCEPTIONALISM AND ASSIMILATIONISM IN FEDERAL INDIAN LAW”, in Stanford Law School, volume 20, number 2, page 269, archived from the original on 24 Feb 2025:
- Antonyms
- dissimilation
- Derived terms
- regressive assimilation, anticipatory assimilation, progressive assimilation, perseverative assimilation, antiassimilation, assimilational, assimilationism, assimilationist, benevolent assimilation, bioassimilation, disassimilation, language assimilation, left-to-right assimilation, malassimilation, nonassimilation, obliterative assimilation, photoassimilation, reassimilation, right-to-left assimilation, Yorkshire assimilation
- Related terms
- acculturation, liaison, mutation, rendaku, sandhi