assimilative

American  

[uh-sim-uh-ley-tiv, -luh-tiv] / əˈsɪm əˌleɪ tɪv, -lə tɪv /

Also assimilatory

adjective

1. characterized by assimilation; assimilating.

---

Other Word Forms

• assimilativeness noun
• nonassimilative adjective
• nonassimilatory adjective
• unassimilative adjective

Etymology

Origin of assimilative

From the Medieval Latin word assimilātīvus, dating back to 1520–30. See assimilate, -ive

Example Sentences

First, and most fundamentally, the court’s opinion overlooks the fact that public education, like democracy itself, is by its nature a messy, assimilative experiment.

From Slate • Jul. 1, 2025

Some community members who attended the school in the 1980s — after it abandoned assimilative measures and embraced Lakota language and culture — have fond memories of the experience.

From Washington Post • Oct. 8, 2021

In bringing Lyncoya into his family, Jackson joined other Southern slaveholders, Indian agents, and Northern Quakers in a short-lived, but politically potent, tradition of assimilative adoption.

From Slate • Apr. 29, 2016

The anarchic image, in which a swarming multitude falls back from the camera almost out of sight, summons both Coney’s assimilative energies and the tumultuous disorder of Huneker’s human ants.

From New York Times • Nov. 18, 2015

They are perhaps less unconventional, less brilliant and witty, but they are more reliable and trustworthy; less versatile and assimilative, but more genuine, earnest and steady.

From My Memoirs by Steinheil, Marguerite