noun ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   The act or process of absorbing or of being absorbed as, countable, uncountable

   "The sponge showed remarkable absorption of water."

2. 2
   the mental state of being preoccupied by something wordnet
3. 3
   The act or process of absorbing or of being absorbed as,; engulfing; swallowing up, as of bodies or land. countable, obsolete, uncountable
4. 4
   complete attention; intense mental effort wordnet
5. 5
   The act or process of absorbing or of being absorbed as,; assimilation; incorporation. countable, uncountable

   "the absorption of a smaller tribe into a larger"

Show 10 more definitions

6. 6
   (chemistry) a process in which one substance permeates another; a fluid permeates or is dissolved by a liquid or solid wordnet
7. 7
   The act or process of absorbing or of being absorbed as,; the imbibing or reception by molecular or chemical action, of radiant energy; the process of being neutrons being absorbed by the nucleus; interception. countable, physical, uncountable

   "the absorption of light, heat, electricity, etc."

8. 8
   (physics) the process in which incident radiated energy is retained without reflection or transmission on passing through a medium wordnet
9. 9
   The act or process of absorbing or of being absorbed as,; The process in which incident radiant energy is retained by a substance (such as an air mass) by conversion to some other form of energy (such as heat). countable, uncountable
10. 10
    the process of absorbing nutrients into the body after digestion wordnet
11. 11
    The act or process of absorbing or of being absorbed as,; in living organisms, the process by which the materials of growth and nutrition are absorbed and conveyed to the tissues and organs; taking in by various means, such as by osmosis. countable, uncountable
12. 12
    the social process of absorbing one cultural group into harmony with another wordnet
13. 13
    Entire engrossment or occupation of the mind. countable, uncountable

    "absorption in some employment"

14. 14
    Mental assimilation. countable, uncountable
15. 15
    The retaining of electrical energy for a short time after it has been introduced to the dielectric. countable, uncountable

Synonyms

All synonyms

assimilationconcentrationpreoccupationablationabsence of mindabsentmindedness

Example

More examples

"This paper has very good absorption."

Etymology

First attested in 1597. From Latin absorptiō (“a sucking in”), from absorbeō (“absorb”). Morphologically absorb + -tion.

Related phrases

Chappuis absorptionabsorption bandabsorption cellabsorption coefficientabsorption costingabsorption dynamometerabsorption edgeabsorption factorabsorption hygrometerabsorption identityabsorption lawabsorption line

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.