Wiktionary

assimilate

English

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WOTD – 25 July 2008

Etymology 1

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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.

Pronunciation

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Verb

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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.
    Food is assimilated and converted into organic tissue.
  2. (transitive) To incorporate or absorb (knowledge) into the mind.
    The teacher paused in her lecture to allow the students to assimilate what she had said.
    • 1850, Charles Merivale, History of the Romans Under the Empire:
      His mind had no power to assimilate the lessons.
    • 1981 December 1, Duncan Mitchel, “The God That Dare Not Speak Its Name”, in Gay Community News, volume 12, number 20, page 8:
      A good modern work on this subject is needed, preferably by someone who understands both the Bible and human sexuality, but Sex and the Bible isn't it. I'm not sure what went wrong. Larue has read the literature, but seems not to have assimilated it.
  3. (transitive) 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.
  4. (transitive, rare, used with "to" or "with") To liken, compare to something similar.
    • 2005 October 12, J. R. Spencer, transl., Penal Code [of France]‎[2], Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, retrieved 2020-01-19, page 25:
      The use of an animal to kill, wound or threaten is assimilated to the use of a weapon.
  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
    • 1782–1785, William Cowper, “(please specify the page)”, in The Task, a Poem, […], London: […] J[oseph] Johnson;  […], →OCLC:
      Fast falls a fleecy shower; the downy flakes / Assimilate all objects.
    • 1676, Matthew Hale, “Meditations upon the Lord’s Prayer”, in Contemplations Moral and Divine. The Second Part, London: […] William Shrewsbury […], and Tho[mas] Leigh and D[aniel] Midwinter, […], published 1699, →OCLC, page 478:
      [I]t [the seed of life] 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
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  • (incorporate or absorb knowledge into the mind): process
  • (absorb a group of people into a community): integrate
Derived terms
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Translations
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to incorporate nutrients into the body after digestion
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Etymology 2

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First attested in the early 15th century, in Middle English; from Middle English assimilat(e) (“made like”, used as the participle of assimilaten), see -ate (adjective-forming suffix) and Etymology 1 fr more; the noun was derived from the participle through substantivization, see -ate (noun-forming suffix). Participial usage up until Early Modern English.

Adjective

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assimilate (comparative more assimilate, superlative most assimilate) (obsolete)

  1. (as a participle) Assimilated.
  2. Similar, like, the same as.

Noun

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assimilate

  1. Something that is or has been assimilated.
    • 2005, Ep Heuvelink, Tomatoes, →ISBN, page 65:
      At low light intensity, high temperature delays the first flower initiation, as assimilate supply is limiting and high temperature reduces the amount of assimilate available in the plant[.]
    • 2012, A. Läuchli, R.L. Bieleski, Inorganic Plant Nutrition, →ISBN, page 83:
      the growing root and ectomycorrhizas both act as assimilate sinks
  2. (obsolete) Something that is like, similar to another.
Translations
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Translations

Interlingua

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Participle

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assimilate

  1. past participle of assimilar

Italian

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Verb

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assimilate

  1. inflection of assimilare:
    1. second-person plural present indicative
    2. second-person plural imperative

Latin

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Verb

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assimilāte

  1. second-person plural present active imperative of assimilō
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