assimilate

English

WOTD – 25 July 2008

Etymology

From Latin assimulātus (“made similar, imitated”), perfect passive participle of assimulō, from ad + simulō (“imitate, copy”).

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /əˈsɪm.ɪ.leɪt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Verb

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

1. To incorporate nutrients into the body after digestion.

   Food is assimilated and converted into organic tissue.

   • Isaac Newton

     Hence also animals and vegetables may assimilate their nourishment.

2. To incorporate or absorb knowledge into the mind.

   The teacher paused in her lecture to allow the students to assimilate what she had said.

   • Merivale

     His mind had no power to assimilate the lessons.

3. To absorb a group of people into a community.

   The aliens in the science-fiction film wanted to assimilate human beings into their own race.

4. To compare a thing to something similar.
5. To bring to a likeness or to conformity; to cause a resemblance between.
   • John Bright

     to assimilate our law to the law of Scotland

   • Cowper

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

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Sir M. Hale to this entry?)

Synonyms

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

Translations

to incorporate nutrients into the body after digestion

• Afrikaans: assimileer
• Albanian: asimiloj (sq)
• Bulgarian: усвоявам (bg) (usvojavam)
• Catalan: assimilar (ca)

• French: assimiler (fr), absorber (fr)
• Hebrew: הטמעה (he)
• Serbo-Croatian: asimilírati

to incorporate or absorb knowledge into the mind

• Albanian: asimiloj (sq)
• Bulgarian: усвоявам (bg) (usvojavam)
• Finnish: omaksua (fi), sisäistää (fi)

• French: assimiler (fr), digérer (fr) (informal)
• Greek: αφομοιώνω (el) (afomoióno)
• Serbo-Croatian: asimilírati

to absorb a group of people into a community

• Albanian: asimiloj (sq)
• Bulgarian: асимилирам (bg) (asimiliram)
• Catalan: assimilar (ca)
• Dutch: assimileren (nl), integreren (nl)
• Finnish: sulauttaa

• French: assimiler (fr)
• German: assimilieren (de)
• Greek: αφομοιώνω (el) (afomoióno)
• Russian: ассимилировать (ru) (assimilirovatʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: asimilírati

to compare something to another similar one

• Albanian: asimiloj (sq)
• Bulgarian: наподобявам (bg) (napodobjavam)
• Catalan: assimilar-se (ca)

• Dutch: vergelijken (nl)
• Finnish: rinnastaa
• French: assimiler (fr)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

• Esperanto: asimili
• Ido: asimilar
• Italian: assimilare

---

Italian

Verb

assimilate

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

---

Latin

Verb

assimilāte

1. first-person plural present active imperative of assimilō