dissimilation

See also: Dissimilation

English

From dis- +‎ -similation, after assimilation.

dissimilation (countable and uncountable, plural dissimilations)

The act of dissimilating, of making dissimilar.
(microbiology) A dissimilatory process that supply a cell with energy only without the assimilation of nutrients.
(phonology, phonetics) A phenomenon where one of a pair of similar adjacent consonant or vowel sounds in a word becomes less similar.
- 1985, Robert Burchfield, The English Language, Oxford: Oxford University Press, page 112:
  Brimstone is "properly" *brinstone, displaying an ancient careless pronunciation made respectable by being called "dissimilation".
(sociology, cultural studies) The rejection, by a minority group, of the customs and attitudes of the dominant culture.
After the impacts of the former Russian Empire and Soviet Union's cultural imperialism on the national identity of indigenous peoples: their language, culture and historical memory, there have been efforts at the dissimilatory process of derussification.
- 2014, Hande Sözer, Managing Invisibility: Dissimulation and Identity Maintenance among Alevi Bulgarian Turks‎^[1], BRILL, →ISBN, page 41:
  In social psychology, dissimilation is the emphasis on distinctiveness from others when they threaten one's identity[. …] Simply, […] the term dissimilation refers to [assimilation's] opposite processes of resisting likeness.