Assimilation - Definition
assimilation
n 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 [syn: assimilation, absorption]
3: the process of absorbing nutrients into the body after
digestion [syn: assimilation, absorption]
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 [syn: acculturation, assimilation]
6: in the theories of Jean Piaget: the application of a general
schema to a particular instance