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.
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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.
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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
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to soak or suck up (liquids)
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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)
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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.
"Sometimes I've got to rein it in a little bit, learn to absorb the pressure a bit more," he said.
From BBC
They geeked out about continual learning, where AI gets smarter as it absorbs new information, and reinforcement learning, or “RL,” a technique in which the models learn through trial and error.
As for the direct-to-consumer website, Pfizer has flexibility to reduce those cash prices while still preserving its earnings, since cash payments skip the intermediaries that generally absorb a chunk of the drug’s list price.
From Barron's
Buffett is also living proof that “one could prosper by uncovering market inefficiencies,” pushing back in the 1960s and 1970s on the idea that in efficient markets, stock prices quickly absorb new information, said Klarman.
From MarketWatch
The retailer is working to minimize the pricing impacts by moving production, absorbing some of the higher costs along with suppliers and consolidating orders to import more at one time.
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.
