Word Meanings - ABSORB - Book Publishers vocabulary database

Etym: 1. To swallow up; to engulf; to overwhelm; to cause to disappear as if by swallowing up; to use up; to include. "Dark oblivion soon absorbs them all." Cowper. The large cities absorb the wealth and fashion. W. Irving. 2. To suck up; to drink

Additional info about word: ABSORB

Etym: 1. To swallow up; to engulf; to overwhelm; to cause to disappear as if by swallowing up; to use up; to include. "Dark oblivion soon absorbs them all." Cowper. The large cities absorb the wealth and fashion. W. Irving. 2. To suck up; to drink in; to imbibe; as a sponge or as the lacteals of the body. Bacon. 3. To engross or engage wholly; to occupy fully; as, absorbed in study or the pursuit of wealth. 4. To take up by cohesive, chemical, or any molecular action, as when charcoal absorbs gases. So heat, light, and electricity are absorbed or taken up in the substances into which they pass. Nichol. p. 8 Syn. -- To Absorb, Engross, Swallow up, Engulf. These words agree in one general idea, that of completely taking up. They are chiefly used in a figurative sense and may be distinguished by a reference to their etymology. We speak of a person as absorbed (lit., drawn in, swallowed up) in study or some other employment of the highest interest. We speak of a person as ebgrossed (lit., seized upon in the gross, or wholly) by something which occupies his whole time and thoughts, as the acquisition of wealth, or the attainment of honor. We speak of a person as swallowed up and lost in that which completely occupies his thoughts and feelings, as in grief at the death of a friend, or in the multiplied cares of life. We speak of a person as engulfed in that which takes in all his hopes and interests; as, engulfed in misery, ruin, etc. That grave question which had begun to absorb the Christian mind -- the marriage of the clergy. Milman. Too long hath love engrossed Britannia's stage, And sunk to softness all our tragic rage. Tickell. Should not the sad occasion swallow up My other cares Addison. And in destruction's river Engulf and swallow those. Sir P. Sidney.

Possible synonyms: (Same meaning words of ABSORB)

• Assimilate
• Compare
• liken
• match
• engross
• identify
• incorporate
• absorb
• appropriate
• Consume
• Use
• burn
• oat up
• devour
• spend
• squander
• assimilate
• occupy
• employ
• utilize
• waste
• destroy
• spoil
• ravage
• expend
• pine
• wither
• decay
• Cost
• Require
• consume
• Devour
• Eat
• swallow
• gorge
• gobble
• bolt
• Drink
• Imbibe
• quaff
• drain
• draught

Possible antonyms: (opposite words of ABSORB)

• Rise
• grow
• increase
• flourish
• luxuriate
• vegetate
• expand
• enlarge
• Replenish
• fill
• supply
• pour
• moisten
• drown
• inundate
• drench
• swill
• Spare
• conserve
• preserve
• indemnify

Related words: (words related to ABSORB)

• DRINKABLE
  Capable of being drunk; suitable for drink; potable. Macaulay. Also used substantively, esp. in the plural. Steele.
• DECAY
  To pass gradually from a sound, prosperous, or perfect state, to one of imperfection, adversity, or dissolution; to waste away; to decline; to fail; to become weak, corrupt, or disintegrated; to rot; to perish; as, a tree decays; fortunes decay;
• WASTEL
  A kind of white and fine bread or cake; -- called also wastel bread, and wastel cake. Roasted flesh or milk and wasted bread. Chaucer. The simnel bread and wastel cakes, which were only used at the tables of the highest nobility. Sir W. Scott.
• GORGEOUS
  Imposing through splendid or various colors; showy; fine; magnificent. Cloud-land, gorgeous land. Coleridge. Gogeous as the sun at midsummer. Shak. -- Gor"geous*ly, adv. -- Gor"geous*ness, n. (more info) luxurious; cf. OF. gorgias ruff,
• APPROPRIATENESS
  The state or quality of being appropriate; peculiar fitness. Froude.
• COMPARE
  To inflect according to the degrees of comparison; to state positive, comparative, and superlative forms of; as, most adjectives of one syllable are compared by affixing "-er" and "-est" to the positive form; as, black, blacker, blackest; those
• DRAINE
  The missel thrush.
• SUPPLYMENT
  A supplying or furnishing; supply. Shak.
• SWILLINGS
  See 1
• WASTETHRIFT
  A spendthrift.
• SPENDTHRIFT
  One who spends money profusely or improvidently; a prodigal; one who lavishes or wastes his estate. Also used figuratively. A woman who was a generous spendthrift of life. Mrs. R. H. Davis.
• DESTROYABLE
  Destructible. Plants . . . scarcely destroyable by the weather. Derham.
• SWALLOWFISH
  The European sapphirine gurnard . It has large pectoral fins.
• SPENDER
  One who spends; esp., one who spends lavishly; a prodigal; a spendthrift.
• ENLARGEMENT
  1. The act of increasing in size or bulk, real or apparent; the state of being increased; augmentation; further extension; expansion. 2. Expansion or extension, as of the powers of the mind; ennoblement, as of the feelings and character; as, an
• DRINK
  p. pr. & vb. n. Drinking. Drunken is now rarely used, except as a verbal adj. in sense of habitually intoxicated; the form drank, not drincan; akin to OS. drinkan, D. drinken, G. trinken, Icel. drekka, 1. To swallow anything liquid, for quenching
• WASTEBOARD
  See 3
• SWILL
  To drink in great draughts; to swallow greedily. Well-dressed people, of both sexes, . . . devouring sliced beef, and swilling pork, and punch, and cider. Smollett. 3. To inebriate; to fill with drink. I should be loth To meet the rudeness
• SQUANDER
  scatter, to squander, Prov. E. swatter, Dan. sqvatte, Sw. sqvätta to squirt, sqvättra to squander, Icel. skvetta to squirt out, to throw 1. To scatter; to disperse. Our squandered troops he rallies. Dryden. 2. To spend lavishly or profusely;
• ABSORBING
  Swallowing, engrossing; as, an absorbing pursuit. -- Ab*sorb"ing, adv.
• ALKALI WASTE
  Waste material from the manufacture of alkali; specif., soda waste.
• UNEMPLOYMENT
  Quality or state of being not employed; -- used esp. in economics, of the condition of various social classes when temporarily thrown out of employment, as those engaged for short periods, those whose trade is decaying, and those least competent.
• REINCREASE
  To increase again.
• OVERWASTED
  Wasted or worn out; Drayton.
• REGORGE
  1. To vomit up; to eject from the stomach; to throw back. Hayward. 2. To swallow again; to swallow back. Tides at highest mark regorge the flood. DRyden.
• TRANSPARENT
  transparere to be transparent; L. trans across, through + parere to 1. Having the property of transmitting rays of light, so that bodies can be distinctly seen through; pervious to light; diaphanous; pellucid; as, transparent glass; a transparent
• OVERDRINK
  To drink to excess.
• SELF-DESTROYER
  One who destroys himself; a suicide.
• DESPEND
  To spend; to squander. See Dispend. Some noble men in Spain can despend Howell.