Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Photosynthesis \Pho`to*syn"the*sis\, n. (Plant Physiol.) The process of constructive metabolism by which carbohydrates are formed from water vapor and the carbon dioxide of the air in the chlorophyll-containing tissues of plants exposed to the action of light. It was formerly called assimilation, but this is now commonly used as in animal physiology. The details of the process are not yet clearly known. Baeyer's theory is that the carbon dioxide is reduced to carbon monoxide, which, uniting with the hydrogen of the water in the cell, produces formaldehyde, the latter forming various sugars through polymerization. Vines suggests that the carbohydrates are secretion products of the chloroplasts, derived from decomposition of previously formed proteids. The food substances are usually quickly translocated, those that accumulate being changed to starch, which appears in the cells almost simultaneously with the sugars. The chloroplasts perform photosynthesis only in light and within a certain range of temperature, varying according to climate. This is the only way in which a plant is able to organize carbohydrates. All plants without a chlorophyll apparatus, as the fungi, must be parasitic or saprophytic. -- Pho`to*syn*thet"ic, a. -- Pho`to*syn*thet"ic*al*ly, adv.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
early 15c., "act of assimilating," from Old French assimilacion, from Latin assimilationem (nominative assimilatio) "likeness, similarity," noun of action from past participle stem of assimilare (see assimilate). Psychological sense is from 1855.
Wiktionary
n. The act of assimilate or the state of being assimilate.
WordNet
n. the state of being assimilated; people of different backgrounds come to see themselves as part of a larger national family
the social process of absorbing one cultural group into harmony with another [syn: absorption]
the process of absorbing nutrients into the body after digestion [syn: absorption]
a linguistic process by which a sound becomes similar to an adjacent sound
the process of assimilating new ideas into an existing cognitive structure [syn: acculturation]
in the theories of Jean Piaget: the application of a general schema to a particular instance
Wikipedia
Assimilation may refer to:
-
Cultural assimilation, the process whereby a minority group gradually adapts to the customs and attitudes of the prevailing culture and customs
- Language shift, also known as language assimilation, the progressive process whereby a speech community of a language shifts to speaking another language
- Cultural assimilation of Native Americans in the United States
- Jewish assimilation
- Assimilation (biology) the conversion of nutrient into the fluid or solid substance of the body, by the processes of digestion and absorption
- Assimilation (phonology), a linguistic process by which a sound becomes similar to an adjacent sound
- Assimilation (meteorology), the process of objectively adapting the model state (of a numerical weather prediction model) to observations in a statistical optimal way taking into account model and observation errors
- Assimilation (psychology), incorporation of new concepts into existing schemes
- Assimilation (French colonial), an ideological basis of French colonial policy in the 19th and 20th centuries
- Assimilation effect, a frequently observed bias in social cognition
- Assimilation (album), a 2001 album by Deliverance
Assimilation was one ideological basis of French colonial policy in the 19th and 20th centuries. In contrast with British imperial policy, the French taught their subjects that, by adopting French language and culture, they could eventually become French. The famous ' Four Communes' in Senegal were seen as proof of this. Here Africans were afforded all the rights of French citizens.
Assimilation is a 2001 album by the Christian speed/ thrash metal band Deliverance. It was reissued in 2007 by Retroactive Records as a double CD with demos and instrumental mixes on disc 2.
In phonology, assimilation is a common phonological process by which one sound becomes more like a nearby sound. This can occur either within a word or between words. In rapid speech, for example, "handbag" is often pronounced . As in this example, sound segments typically assimilate to a following sound (this is called regressive or anticipatory assimilation), but they may also assimilate to a preceding one (progressive assimilation). While assimilation most commonly occurs between immediately adjacent sounds, it may occur between sounds separated by others ("assimilation at a distance").
Assimilation can be synchronic—that is, an active process in a language at a given point in time—or diachronic—that is, a historical sound change.
A related process is coarticulation, where one segment influences another to produce an allophonic variation, such as vowels acquiring the feature nasal before nasal consonants when the velum opens prematurely or becoming labialised as in "boot". This article describes both processes under the term assimilation.
Biological assimilation, is the combination of two processes to supply cells with nutrients. The first is the process of absorbing vitamins, minerals, and other chemicals from food within the gastrointestinal tract. In humans this is done with a chemical breakdown ( enzymes and acids) and physical breakdown (oral mastication and stomach churning.) The second process of bio assimilation is the chemical alteration of substances in the bloodstream by the liver or cellular secretions. Although a few similar compounds can be absorbed in digestion bio assimilation, the bio-availability of many compounds is dictated by this second process since both the liver and cellular secretions can be very specific in their metabolic action (see chirality.) This second process is where the absorbed food reaches the cells via the liver.
Most foods are composed of largely indigestible components depending on the enzymes and effectiveness of an animal's digestive tract. The most well known of these indigestible compounds is cellulose; the basic chemical polymer in the makeup of plant cell walls. Most animals, however, do not produce cellulase; the enzyme needed to digest cellulose. However some animal species have developed symbiotic relationships with cellulose producing bacteria (see termites and metamonads.) This allows termites to use the energy dense cellulose carbohydrate. Other such enzymes are known to significantly improve bio-assimilation of nutrients. Because of the use of bacterial derivatives enzymatic dietary supplements now contain such enzymes as Amylase, Glucoamylase, Protease, Invertase, Peptidase, Lipase, Lactase, Phytase, and Cellulase. These enzymes improve the overall bioassimilation in the digestive tract but are still not proven to increase bloodstream bioavailability. Basically the enzymes and other breakdowns make the bigger substances of food smaller so they can go through the rest of their digestion more easily.
Usage examples of "assimilation".
In the epidermis of the apophysis functional stomata, similar to those of the higher plants, are present and, since cells containing chlorophyll are present below the superficial layers of the apophysis and capsule, the sporogonium is capable of independent assimilation.
The apophysis, which may be a more or less distinct region, usually bears stomata and is the main organ of assimilation.
These faculties impart tone to the system, sustain the processes of nutrition, circulation, assimilation, secretion and excretion, and their distinguishing characteristics are vigor, tension, and elasticity.
Absorption, assimilation, excretion, and also reproduction are performed by all classes of cells.
Define absorption, excretion, and assimilation as applied to the cells.
Almost every well-intended and enlightened gesture designed to help immigrants in the last three decades - de facto open borders, bilingual education, new state welfare programs, the affirmation of a hyphenated identity, a sweeping revisionism in southwestern American history - has either failed to ensure economic parity or thwarted the processes of assimilation.
It is an unorganized particle of matter, resulting from the imperfect elaboration of the products of digestion, which is not, therefore, properly fitted for assimilation with the tissues.
Instead of nutritive energy, which by assimilation produces perfect bodily textures, this function, in the scrofulous diathesis, is deranged by debility, and there is left in the tissues an imperfectly organized particle, incapable of undergoing a complete vital change, around which cluster other particles of tubercular matter, forming little grains, like millet seed, or growing, by new accretions of like particles, to masses of more extensive size.
The mass-ideals of noise, excitement, mental uniformity, and hurrying movement which the Americans share with these unassimilated alien groups do not represent any kind of assimilation, because these traits themselves are antinational, demoralizing, destructive of individuality, State, People, Race.
The characters of the sporogonium have as their object the nutrition and effective distribution of the spores, and only exceptionally, as in the Anthocerotaceae, are concerned with independent assimilation.
It embraces digestion, assimilation, tissue renovation and the provision of bodily heat and energy, in other words it is the sum total of the biochemic processes.
While there was an assimilation of the Voetians to the Cocceians in the application of the allegorical principle of interpretation, there was a moral retrogression of the latter which greatly reduced their strength.
The dorsiventral thallus is constructed on the same plan throughout the group, and shows a lower region composed of cells containing little chlorophyll and an upper stratum specialized for assimilation and transpiration.
Rather it was the assimilation of encipherment into the overall communication process.
He was in a trance of data assimilation as graphs and maps cascaded past.