absorb

[ ab-sawrb, -zawrb ]

/ æbˈsɔrb, -ˈzɔrb /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR absorb ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used with object)

to suck up or drink in (a liquid); soak up: A sponge absorbs water.

to swallow up the identity or individuality of; incorporate: The empire absorbed many small nations.

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.

to take up or receive by chemical or molecular action: Carbonic acid is formed when water absorbs carbon dioxide.

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?

to pay for (costs, taxes, etc.): The company will absorb all the research costs.

Archaic. to swallow up.

Nearby words

absolutive, absolutize, absolutory, absolve, absonant, absorb, absorbable gelatin film, absorbable suture, absorbance, absorbed, absorbed dose

Origin of absorb

1480–90; < Latin absorbēre, equivalent to ab- ab- + sorbēre to suck in, swallow

SYNONYMS FOR absorb

2 assimilate, consume, devour, engulf; destroy.

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR absorb ON THESAURUS.COM

Related forms

ab·sorb·a·ble, adjectiveab·sorb·a·bil·i·ty, nounnon·ab·sorb·a·bil·i·ty, nounnon·ab·sorb·a·ble, adjective

o·ver·ab·sorb, verb (used with object)pre·ab·sorb, verbre·ab·sorb, verb (used with object)un·ab·sorb·a·ble, adjective

Can be confused

absorb adsorb

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for absorb

Similar reinforced plinths were developed by the Getty museums in Los Angeles to absorb the seismic movements there.
Florence Preps ‘David’ for the Big One|Barbie Latza Nadeau|December 25, 2014|DAILY BEAST
In the book, you say “Absorb youth and you will be absorbed by youth.”
George Clinton on Industry ‘Mobsters’ and How Nobody Wants to Listen to a Crackhead|Curtis Stephen|November 19, 2014|DAILY BEAST
But the details of this massacre have been especially difficult to absorb.
Anatomy of a Mexican Student Massacre|Jason McGahan|October 8, 2014|DAILY BEAST
It gave me license to pore over raw tape, again and again, to absorb the subtle clues of human behavior.
We Interrupt This Broadcast: How a TV Producer Learned to Write Fiction|George Lerner|September 9, 2014|DAILY BEAST

“I welcome China to Africa because Africa is big enough to absorb China,” he said.
The American Elite Embraces a New Africa at D.C. Summit|Eleanor Clift|August 6, 2014|DAILY BEAST
They had an air of showing him about Princeton as if he must absorb its beauties for the last time.
The Guarded Heights|Wadsworth Camp
This sponge will absorb readily the gross impurities of the water, and can easily be taken out and cleaned once or twice a week.
Scientific American, Vol. XXXVII.--No. 2. [New Series.], July 14, 1877|Various
The string will absorb the wax, and may then be placed on one side until needed.
Manual of American Grape-Growing|U. P. Hedrick
Does she suppose wounds of different kinds to "absorb" each other, so to speak?
A Tangled Tale|Lewis Carroll
The idea of his book was beginning to absorb him very thoroughly.
The Making of a Soul|Kathlyn Rhodes

British Dictionary definitions for absorb

absorb

/ (əbˈsɔːb, -ˈzɔːb) /

verb (tr)

to soak or suck up (liquids)

to engage or occupy (the interest, attention, or time) of (someone); engross

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

to take in or assimilate; incorporate

to accept and find a market for (goods, etc)

to pay for as part of a commercial transactionthe distributor absorbed the cost of transport

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 solidporous solids absorb water; hydrochloric acid absorbs carbon dioxide Compare adsorb

Derived Forms

absorbability, nounabsorbable, adjective

Word Origin for absorb

C15: via Old French from Latin absorbēre to suck, swallow, from ab- 1 + sorbēre to suck

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Medicine definitions for absorb

absorb

[ əb-zôrb′ ]

v.

To take in by absorption.

To reduce the intensity of transmitted light.