assimilation

noun

1. the state of being assimilated; people of different backgrounds come to see themselves as part of a larger national family
2. the social process of absorbing one cultural group into harmony with another
3. the process of absorbing nutrients into the body after digestion
4. a linguistic process by which a sound becomes similar to an adjacent sound
5. the process of assimilating new ideas into an existing cognitive structure
6. in the theories of Jean Piaget: the application of a general schema to a particular instance