assimilate

English

WOTD – 25 July 2008

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin assimilātus, variant of Latin assimulātus (“made similar, imitated”), perfect passive participle of assimulō, from ad + simulō (“imitate, copy”). Doublet of assemble.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /əˈsɪm.ɪ.leɪt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

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.

   Food is assimilated and converted into organic tissue.

   • Isaac Newton

     Hence also animals and vegetables may assimilate their nourishment.

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.

   • Merivale

     His mind had no power to assimilate the lessons.

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) To compare to something similar. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
5. (transitive) 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?)

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

to incorporate nutrients into the body after digestion

• Afrikaans: assimileer
• Albanian: asimiloj (sq)
• Bulgarian: усвоявам (bg) (usvojavam)
• Catalan: assimilar (ca)
• Finnish: imeytyä (fi)
• French: assimiler (fr), absorber (fr)

• Hebrew: הטמעה‎ (he)
• Ido: asimilar (io)
• Portuguese: assimilar (pt), anabolizar
• Romanian: asimila (ro)
• Russian: усваивать (ru) impf (usvaivatʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: asimilírati (sh)

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)
• Ido: asimilar (io)
• Portuguese: assimilar (pt), absorver (pt)
• Serbo-Croatian: asimilírati (sh)

to absorb a group of people into a community

• Albanian: asimiloj (sq)
• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Bulgarian: асимилирам (bg) (asimiliram)
• Catalan: assimilar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Dutch: assimileren (nl), integreren (nl)
• Esperanto: asimili (eo)
• Finnish: sulauttaa
• French: assimiler (fr)
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can

• German: assimilieren (de)
• Greek: αφομοιώνω (el) (afomoióno)
• Ido: asimilar (io)
• Indonesian: asimilasi (id)
• Japanese: 同化する (dōka-suru)
• Khmer: please add this translation if you can
• Portuguese: assimilar (pt), integrar (pt)
• Russian: ассимили́ровать (ru) (assimilírovatʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: asimilírati (sh)
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can

to compare something to another similar one

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

• Dutch: vergelijken (nl)
• Finnish: rinnastaa (fi)
• 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 Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Esperanto: ^{(please verify)} asimili (eo)

• Italian: ^{(please verify)} assimilare (it)

Noun

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

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Italian

Verb

assimilate

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

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Latin

Verb

assimilāte

1. first-person plural present active imperative of assimilō