Learn English – A word that means “blending into a community too much”

verbsword-request

I found two phrasal verbs that are close to the meaning I want to convey:

1- Fit in: to feel that you belong to a particular group and are accepted by that group.

2- Blend into: to look or seem the same as surrounding people or things and therefore not be easily noticeable.

What I want to convey is blending into a community to the extent of losing one's characteristics and personality. It is as being too flexible that you can easily fit in in any community whether it was suitable for your nature or not.

I want to fill the verb in the blank of the following sentence:

Fitting in is one thing, but ______ communities is a totally different thing.

The phrasal verb "blend into" means "يختلط" in Arabic which also means "mix". The verb I'm looking for means "يذوب" which also means "dissolving/melting" but they don't seem (according to my research) to be used in English in that way.

Best Answer

"Assimilation" can work here:

assimilation (n): The absorption and integration of people, ideas, or culture into a wider society or culture.

Assimilation is a neutral term for a process that can be expressed either as a positive or a negative. To those in the wider culture, it may seem a good result to see some minority culture integrated into the majority -- but to those in the minority culture who would like to maintain their heritage, assimilation can be a worrisome.

As an example: For a long time the United States was thought of as a "melting pot" in which people of all nations, cultures, and creeds would mix together (like different metals when heated) to become one homogeneous whole. In this model, assimilation is viewed as a positive result.

More recently this was replaced with the model of "cultural pluralism" (also known as the "fruit salad" model) in which different cultures retain their uniqueness but still mix harmoniously with all the other unique cultural groups. In this model, assimilation is, perhaps, inevitable, but still viewed as a somewhat negative result.

(Edit) Because the noun assimilation exists, the gerund assimilating has a slightly different nuance that refers more to the process than the result. In your example sentence, I prefer to use "assimilation":

Fitting in is one thing, but assimilation is another.

However, when comparing two things, it's nice if you can phrase them similarly:

Accommodation is one thing, but assimilation is another.

or

Integration is one thing, but assimilation is another.

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