absorb
Americanverb (used with object)
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to suck up or drink in (a liquid); soak up.
A sponge absorbs water.
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to swallow up the identity or individuality of; incorporate.
The empire absorbed many small nations.
- Synonyms:
- destroy , engulf , devour , consume , assimilate
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to involve the full attention of; to engross or engage wholly.
so absorbed in a book that he did not hear the bell.
-
to occupy or fill.
This job absorbs all of my time.
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to take up or receive by chemical or molecular action.
Carbonic acid is formed when water absorbs carbon dioxide.
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to take in without echo, recoil, or reflection.
to absorb sound and light; to absorb shock.
-
to take in and utilize.
The market absorbed all the computers we could build. Can your brain absorb all this information?
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to pay for (costs, taxes, etc.).
The company will absorb all the research costs.
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Archaic. to swallow up.
verb
-
to soak or suck up (liquids)
-
to engage or occupy (the interest, attention, or time) of (someone); engross
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to receive or take in (the energy of an impact)
-
physics to take in (all or part of incident radiated energy) and retain the part that is not reflected or transmitted
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to take in or assimilate; incorporate
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to accept and find a market for (goods, etc)
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to pay for as part of a commercial transaction
the distributor absorbed the cost of transport
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chem to cause to undergo a process in which one substance, usually a liquid or gas, permeates into or is dissolved by a liquid or solid Compare adsorb
porous solids absorb water
hydrochloric acid absorbs carbon dioxide
Other Word Forms
- absorbability noun
- absorbable adjective
- nonabsorbability noun
- nonabsorbable adjective
- overabsorb verb (used with object)
- preabsorb verb
- reabsorb verb (used with object)
- unabsorbable adjective
Etymology
Origin of absorb
First recorded in 1480–90; from Latin absorbēre, from ab- ab- + sorbēre “to suck in, swallow”
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Then came a rarity from someone usually happy to absorb contact as the Bruins drove for a go-ahead score.
From Los Angeles Times
Those new lines absorb part of the current 41st District in Riverside County, represented by longstanding Republican Rep. Ken Calvert.
From Los Angeles Times
Direct detection has not been possible because dark matter particles do not interact with electromagnetic force -- meaning they do not absorb, reflect or emit light.
From Science Daily
Late in the game against the Huskies, Iamaleava absorbed a crunching hit and departed with neck spasms, forcing backup Luke Duncan to replace him.
From Los Angeles Times
But the roots of this development, he contends, lie even further back—in the classical texts that early modern thinkers read and absorbed.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
