Monday, September 24, 2007

as·sim·i·la·tion


as·sim·i·la·tion (ə-sĭm'ə-lā'shən)
    1. The act or process of assimilating.
    2. The state of being assimilated.
  1. Physiology. The conversion of nutriments into living tissue; constructive metabolism.
  2. Linguistics. The process by which a sound is modified so that it becomes similar or identical to an adjacent or nearby sound. For example, the prefix in- becomes im- in impossible by assimilation to the labial p of possible.
  3. The process whereby a minority group gradually adopts the customs and attitudes of the prevailing culture.