absorb — OET · Shobdo

absorb

verb

1 when wood gets wet, it absorbs water and expands:

soak up, suck up, draw up/in, take up/in, blot up, mop up, sponge up, sop up.

▷antonyms exude, give out.

2 patience is needed to absorb all this information:

assimilate, digest, ingest, take in, imbibe, drink in, familiarize oneself with;

comprehend, grasp, learn, understand, master.

3 the company was absorbed into the new concern:

incorporate, assimilate, integrate, appropriate, take in, subsume, include, co-opt, swallow up.

4 these roles absorb most of his time and energy:

use (up), consume, take up, occupy;

waste, squander, go through, deplete, drain, exhaust, swallow up.

5 the inner lining will absorb some of the sound:

deaden, soften, cushion;

reduce, decrease, lessen;

soak up.

▷antonyms reflect; increase.

6 she was absorbed in a letter when Mervyn came into the room:

preoccupy, engross, captivate, occupy, engage;

rivet, grip, hold, interest, intrigue, immerse, involve, enthral, spellbind, fascinate, arrest, monopolize;

distract, divert, entertain, amuse.

absorb Oxford Dictionary of English