integrate

Meanings

1. 1verbtransitive

   To combine separate things so they work together as one effective whole.

   Grammar: Takes an object and often with: integrate the new app with the old system.

   Patterns

   • integrate something with something
   • integrate something into something

   The company integrated its sales and support systems.

   We plan to integrate the new software into the existing platform.

   The course integrates theory with practice.

2. 2verbtransitive or intransitive

   To become part of a group or community and be accepted, or to help someone do so.

   Grammar: No object when the subject joins in: she integrated quickly. With an object when someone helps: integrate newcomers.

   Patterns

   • integrate into something
   • integrate someone into something

   The new student integrated quickly into the class.

   Schools help immigrant children integrate into the community.

   It took him a year to integrate fully into the team.

3. 3verbtransitiveAmericanspecialist

   To end the separation of groups by race so that they share the same places and institutions.

   Grammar: Historical and political, especially in the United States.

   Patterns

   • integrate a school

   Federal orders required the district to integrate its schools.

   The army integrated its units after the war.

   The city moved to integrate its public pools.

4. 4verbtransitivemathematicstechnical

   In mathematics, to find the integral of a function, such as to calculate an area under a curve.

   Grammar: A technical sense: integrate a function.

   Patterns

   • integrate a function
   • integrate with respect to x

   Students integrate the function to find the area under the curve.

   She integrated the expression with respect to x.

   The software can integrate complicated equations.

Word forms

Common combinations

fully integrated

The tools are fully integrated into one system.

integrate into society

Newcomers need support to integrate into society.

integrate with

The app integrates with your calendar.

seamlessly integrate

The design seamlessly integrates old and new.

integrate a function

To find the area, integrate the function.

Synonyms and how they differ

combine

Combine just means to join, whereas integrate suggests the parts then work as one.

merge

Merge suggests the parts become one and lose separate identity, while integrate can keep them distinct.

incorporate

Incorporate means to include something as part of a larger whole, with less emphasis on working together.

assimilate

Assimilate often means a group fully adopts the host culture, which is stronger than integrate.

Opposites

Word family

integration noun

the act of combining or joining a group

integral adjective

essential as a part of a whole

integrated adjective

combined into a whole

integrity noun

honesty, or the state of being whole

disintegrate verb

to break into small pieces

Commonly confused: integrate or integral?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “integrate”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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