Meaning & use
absorbed
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Meanings
adjectiveafter a verbfigurative
So interested or involved in something that you do not notice much else.
Grammar: Usually predicative after be, seem, or become, and followed by in: was absorbed in a task.
Patterns
- be absorbed in something
- become absorbed in something
- deeply absorbed in something
My neighbor was absorbed in a crossword and did not hear the doorbell.
The students became absorbed in the group project after the first experiment.
She seemed deeply absorbed in thought during the long ride.
adjectivebefore a nountechnical
Taken into a material, body, or system rather than remaining on the surface.
Grammar: Often technical and placed before a noun: absorbed water; compare be absorbed by a sponge.
Patterns
- absorbed water
- absorbed energy
- absorbed into the bloodstream
The test measured the absorbed water in the sample after ten minutes.
Absorbed energy raised the temperature of the metal plate.
The medicine becomes absorbed into the bloodstream within an hour.
Common combinations
- deeply absorbed in
- He was deeply absorbed in the chess problem.
- absorbed in work
- Please do not interrupt her; she is absorbed in work.
- absorbed in a book
- The child sat absorbed in a book about insects.
- absorbed into the bloodstream
- Nutrients are absorbed into the bloodstream through the small intestine.
Synonyms and how they differ
- engrossed
- Engrossed is very close but slightly more formal and almost always followed by in.
- immersed
- Immersed can mean deeply involved or literally surrounded by liquid; absorbed is not literal in the attention sense.
- preoccupied
- Preoccupied suggests worry or distracting thoughts, while absorbed suggests strong interest.
- rapt
- Rapt is literary and approving, describing complete delighted attention.
Opposites
Word family
- absorb verb
- Base verb meaning to take in physically, mentally, or attentively.
- absorbent adjective
- Able to soak up liquid.
- absorption noun
- Process of taking in; also complete mental concentration.
- absorbing adjective
- Holding attention; used for things, not people: an absorbing lecture.
- absorbency noun
- The capacity of a material to soak up liquid.
Commonly confused: absorbed or absorbing? absorbed or absorbent?
absorbed vs absorbing
An absorbing book holds your attention; an absorbed reader is paying full attention.
absorbed vs absorbent
Absorbent describes a material that takes in liquid; absorbed describes a person focused on something.
Practice
During the lecture, Mara was completely absorbed ___ the speaker's story.
Choose one answer.
The fixed adjective pattern is absorbed in something, meaning fully interested. By can appear in passive physical uses such as absorbed by the skin, but not for attention here; on and at do not form the idiom.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “absorbed”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.