assimilation

英[ə,sɪmɪ'leɪʃən] 美[əˌsɪməˈleʃən]

1. the state of being assimilated; people of different backgrounds come to see themselves as part of a larger national family

2. the social process of absorbing one cultural group into harmony with another

3. the process of absorbing nutrients into the body after digestion

4. a linguistic process by which a sound becomes similar to an adjacent sound

5. the process of assimilating new ideas into an existing cognitive structure

6. in the theories of Jean Piaget: the application of a general schema to a particular instance