What does assimilate mean?
Word: Assimilate
Part of Speech: Verb
Meaning: Assimilate means to fully understand new facts or ideas so that they become part of what you know.
Synonyms: digest
How do you spell assimilate?
Syllables: as - sim - i - late
Tricky part: The double letter often lands in the wrong place: it is ss near the start, and the m in the middle stays single.
Watch out for: asimilate, assimmilate
Memory tip: Two s's hold the door open for a single m: the pair comes in first, then the m walks in alone.
Assimilate in a sentence
Example 1: Reading a chapter twice helps me assimilate the main ideas.
Example 2: The new pupils quickly assimilated the rhythm of boarding-school life.
Example 3: Rohan needs a quiet room to assimilate so many dates for his history test.
Fun Fact
In biology the word describes how plants and animals take in nutrients and turn them into part of their own bodies.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Cookie
Find the misspelt word in the sentence:
Because our science teacher gave us a full week before the quiz, every one of us had time to assimelate the long chapter on the water cycle and ask questions.
a) chapter
b) questions
c) science
d) assimelate
Show answer
d) assimelate. An i follows the m, though it is barely heard in quick speech.
Word Connection
Choose the synonym of the word assimilate as used in the sentence:
It took Priya a month to assimilate all the new rules of the chess club.
a) doubt
b) question
c) absorb
d) ignore
Show answer
c) absorb. To absorb rules is to take them in until they are part of you; the other three move away from that.
Mingle-Mangle
Rearrange the jumbled letters in the sentence to form the right word:
Foreign students often need time to ieaastmsil the customs of a new country.
a) simulate
b) stimulate
c) assimilate
d) eliminate
Show answer
c) assimilate. The jumble holds a double s and two a's, more than stimulate or simulate can use, and eliminate has no s at all.
Spell-o-Spell
Three words in the list are spelt correctly. Choose the meaning of the misspelt one.
1. concentrate 2. comprehend 3. summerise 4. assimilate
a) to grasp the meaning of something
b) to give all your attention to one task
c) to take new knowledge on board and make it your own
d) to give the main points in a few words
Show answer
d) to give the main points in a few words. Summarise comes from summary, so the letter after the double m is an a.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. After assimilating a new maths method, a pupil should be able to ____.
a) ask someone else to do it
b) use it on an unfamiliar problem
c) recite the page number it is on
d) copy it out neatly once more
Show answer
b) use it on an unfamiliar problem
2. Which of these helps most when you have a lot of new material to assimilate?
a) putting it aside until the term is nearly over
b) reading everything once at top speed the night before
c) copying every line without stopping to think
d) going through it in small parts with regular revision
Show answer
d) going through it in small parts with regular revision
