absorb

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: B1 — Intermediate

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. verb become imbued
  2. verb take up mentally
  3. verb take up, as of debts or payments

Etymology

From Middle French absorber, from Old French assorbir, from Latin absorbeō (“swallow up”), from ab- (“from”) + sorbeō (“suck in, swallow”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *srebʰ- (“to sip”). Compare French absorber.

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