Absorb

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /əbˈzɔːb/

Definitions

1. To take in or soak up a substance, energy, or information completely into oneself
2. To assimilate or soak up a substance, energy, or knowledge thoroughly into one's own being
3. To draw in and retain a substance, force, or ideas completely, often resulting in a change or impact

Etymology: The verb "absorb" carries a physical image in its Latin root: "absorbeō" meant "swallow up," built from "ab-" ("from") and "sorbeō," "suck in" or "swallow." The Latin verb is itself rooted in a Proto-Indo-European base meaning "to sip," so the idea of drinking in liquid sits at the heart of the word from the start. The route into English ran through Middle French "absorber" and Old French "assorbir." Those forms carried the same sense of swallowing up, and the English verb kept it. Long before it described ideas or attention, it described things like a sponge soaking up water or the ground taking in rain. The move from liquid to mind is what gives the word its modern life. When we say a reader is absorbed in a novel or a city absorbs newcomers, we are still using the sipping-and-swallowing image, now applied to attention and experience instead of fluid.

Synonyms: soak, sponge, assimilate, engulf, consume

Antonyms: release, emit, expel, disperse, dissipate