# absorb

> English word · Verb · IPA /əbˈzɔːb/ · frequency rank #9,428

## Definitions
1. To include so that it no longer has separate existence; to overwhelm; to cause to disappear as if by swallowing up; to incorporate; to assimilate; to take in and use up.
2. To engulf, as in water; to swallow up.
3. To suck up; to drink in; to imbibe, like a sponge or as the lacteals of the body; to chemically take in.
4. To be absorbed, or sucked in; to sink in.
5. To take in energy and convert it.
6. To take in energy and convert it.
7. To take in energy and convert it.
8. To take in energy and convert it.
9. To engross or engage wholly; to occupy fully.
10. To occupy or consume time.
11. To assimilate mentally.
12. To assume or pay for as part of a commercial transaction.
13. To defray the costs.
14. To accept or purchase in quantity.

## 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.

## Easily confused with
- **absurd** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/absorb-vs-absurd)
- **absorbed** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/absorb-vs-absorbed)
- **absorber** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/absorb-vs-absorber)
- **abort** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/abort-vs-absorb)
- **abhor** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/abhor-vs-absorb)

## Common misspellings (9)
`abbsorb`, `abosrb`, `absobr`, `absorbb`, `absorrb`, `absrob`, `abssorb`, `asborb`, `basorb`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/absorb