Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
- n. Incomplete or imperfect assimilation of nutrients by the body.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- n. Imperfect digestion of the several leading constituents of food.
- n. An imperfect elaboration by the tissues of the materials brought to them by the bloodstream.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
- n. Imperfect digestion of the several leading constituents of the food.
- n. An imperfect elaboration by the tissues of the materials brought to them by the blood.
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. In pathology, imperfect assimilation or nutrition; faulty digestion and appropriation of nutriment.
Etymologies
mal- + assimilation (Wiktionary)
Examples
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If he does not actually die from the effects of the wrongly treated typhoid fever, he will be troubled all his life with intestinal indigestion, constipation, malassimilation and the accompanying nervous disorders.
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It will take him, perhaps, months or years to die a gradual, miserable death through malassimilation and malnutrition, which usually end in some form of wasting disease, such as pernicious anemia or tuberculosis.
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During his shanty-life Thoreau was imperfectly nourished, and for the victim of malassimilation, tuberculosis hunts and needs no spyglass.
Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great Philosophers, Volume 8
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