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Dictionary Language resources

dissimilate

Pronunciation: /dɪˈsɪmɪleɪt/

Definition of dissimilate

verb

[with object] Linguistics

change (a sound or sounds in a word) to another when the word originally had identical sounds near each other (e.g. in taper, which derives from papyrus, the p is dissimilated to t).
[no object] (of a sound) undergo the process of dissimilation:the first ‘r’ dissimilates to ‘l’