| Noun | 1. | assimilation - the state of being assimilated; people of different backgrounds come to see themselves as part of a larger national familyrelationship - a state involving mutual dealings between people or parties or countries | |
| 2. | assimilation - the social process of absorbing one cultural group into harmony with anothersocial process - a process involved in the formation of groups of persons Westernisation, Westernization - assimilation of Western culture; the social process of becoming familiar with or converting to the customs and practices of Western civilization | |
| 3. | assimilation - the process of absorbing nutrients into the body after digestionmalabsorption - abnormal absorption of nutrients from the digestive tract | |
| 4. | assimilation - a linguistic process by which a sound becomes similar to an adjacent sound | |
| 5. | assimilation - the process of assimilating new ideas into an existing cognitive structureeducation - the gradual process of acquiring knowledge; "education is a preparation for life"; "a girl's education was less important than a boy's" | |
| 6. | assimilation - in the theories of Jean Piaget: the application of a general schema to a particular instance | |