n]
| 1. | the act of making or becoming unlike. |
| 2. | Phonetics. the process by which a speech sound becomes different from or less like a neighboring sound, as pilgrim [pil-grim] from Latin peregrīnus [per-e-gree-noo s] , and purple [pur-puh l] from Old English purpure [poo r-poo-re] , or disappears entirely because of a like sound in another syllable, as in the pronunciation [guhv-uh-ner] for governor. Compare assimilation (def. 5). |
| 3. | Biology. catabolism. |