Reassimilate

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To reintegrate individuals or elements into a system or group after a time apart
2. to restore a person's cultural or social identity after previous differentiation or alienation
3. To bring someone or something back into a community or system after separation ; to recover a social or cultural identity that was lost or diminished

Etymology: "Reassimilate" is simply "re-" attached to "assimilate," so its history is the history of "assimilate" with a new prefix. "Assimilate" comes from Latin "assimilare," meaning "to make like" or "to liken," built from "ad-" (toward) and "similis" (like). The original sense was about making one thing resemble another, and only later did it come to mean absorbing a person or group into a larger culture or body. The prefix "re-" carries its usual meaning of doing something again or going back to an earlier state. Put together, "reassimilate" means to bring someone or something back into a system or group after it has been separated from it for a time. Its use is most common when describing people returning to a community, such as soldiers or former residents rejoining society.

Synonyms: reintegrate, readapt, reincorporate, reacclimate, reestablish

Antonyms: disassociate, exclude, alienate, detach, segregate