dissimilate
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
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to make or become dissimilar
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(usually foll by to) phonetics to change or displace (a consonant) or (of a consonant) to be changed to or displaced by (another consonant) so that its manner of articulation becomes less similar to a speech sound in the same word. Thus (r) in the final syllable of French marbre is dissimilated to (l) in its English form marble
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of dissimilate
First recorded in 1835–45; dis- 1 + (as)similate
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.
See Examples For:
It gave, however, in French the dissimilated Ferry, one source of our surnames Ferry, Ferris, though the former is generally local.
From The Romance of Names by Weekley, Ernest
This is from a Late Latin diminutive aulæolum, a small chapel or shrine, which was dissimilated into auræolum.
From The Romance of Words (4th ed.) by Weekley, Ernest
In Sansom we have Samson assimilated to Samson and then dissimilated.
From The Romance of Names by Weekley, Ernest
Colonel has the spelling of Fr. colonel, but its pronunciation points rather to the dissimilated Spanish form coronel which is common in Elizabethan English.
From The Romance of Words (4th ed.) by Weekley, Ernest
And whenever it becomes like and unlike it must be assimilated and dissimilated?
From Parmenides by Jowett, Benjamin
“I just think you’re dissimilating when you say that any ruling here wouldn’t have an effect on those.”
From New York Times ● May 8, 2022
Now, according to the Hering theory of color, white, red, and yellow are the so-called "dissimilating" colors in the three pairs, white-black, red-green, and yellow-blue, corresponding to three hypothetical visual substances in the retina.
From The Psychology of Beauty by Howes, Ethel Dench Puffer
The dissimilating process seems to bring about stronger reactions on the physiological side, as if it were a more exciting process.
From The Psychology of Beauty by Howes, Ethel Dench Puffer
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.
