absorb

absorb 1 Absorb, imbibe, assimilate can all mean to take (something) in so as to become imbued with it or to make it a part of one’s being.

The original meaning of absorb, to swallow up (both literally and figuratively), has been retained in spite of the development of a later and more common sense, to soak up (both literally and figuratively). When the former idea is stressed, absorb implies the loss of identity of that taken in

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the trust absorbed three small corporations

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in England . . . the aristocracy are subordinate to the middle class, which is gradually absorbing and destroying them— T. S. Eliot

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When soaking up is implied, absorb often suggests enrichment of the recipient

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the roots of plants absorb moisture

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an adult reader with trained habits of attention and concentration will absorb the contents of a book with . . . speed and retentiveness— Eliot

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In its literal sense imbibe usually implies drinking or inhaling

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imbibe intoxicating liquors

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we did not imbibe an undiluted air— N. E. Nelson

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However imbibe, like absorb, often connotes soaking up

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the ground imbibes (or absorbs) moisture

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In its figurative sense imbibe, like absorb, implies a process of learning, but it often carries the suggestions that the process has been unconscious and that the effect has been noticeable or profound

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the pupils imbibe no respect for intellectual values at home, and find none among their schoolfellows— Inge

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twelve years he wandered, imbibing wisdom from every source, sitting at every shrine, tasting every creed— Durant

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Assimilate implies not only absorption but also the conversion of what is absorbed into the substance of the assimilating body. In its narrow sense it applies especially to physiological processes

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the body assimilates digested food into its protoplasm

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In its figurative use it often suggests lasting enrichment without loss of integrity or unity

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poets . . . who assimilate a number of influences and construct an original speech from them— Day Lewis

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Sometimes it stresses completeness of fusion and consequent loss of identity

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races incapable of assimilation

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Analogous words: *soak, saturate, impregnate: *receive, take: incorporate, embody (see IDENTIFY)

Antonyms: exude, give out

Contrasted words: *eject, expel: *throw, cast

2 engross, *monopolize, consume

Analogous words: fix, *fasten: rivet, *secure: immerse, submerge (see DIP)

Antonyms: dissipate (time, attention, energies)

Contrasted words: *scatter, disperse, dispel: *deplete, drain, exhaust