absorb
To include so that it no longer has separate existence; to overwhelm; to cause to disappear as if by swallowing up; to incorporate; to assimilate; to take in and use up.
Other meanings
To suck up; to drink in; to imbibe, like a sponge or as the lacteals of the body; to chemically take in.
To be absorbed, or sucked in; to sink in.
“The drops of water slowly absorbed into the dry sponge.”
Related words
- absorbance
- absorbate
- absorbefacient
- bioabsorb
- misabsorb
- overabsorb
- preabsorb
- reabsorb
- absorb oneself in
- absorbability
- absorptive
- absorbable
Word history
From Latin "absorbeō" (swallow up).
Where this comes from
This definition is adapted from “absorb” on Wiktionary, by its contributors, published under CC BY-SA 4.0. This page is published under the same licence.