integration
Americannoun
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an act or instance of combining into an integral whole.
- Synonyms:
- combination
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an act or instance of integrating a racial, religious, or ethnic group.
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an act or instance of integrating an organization, place of business, school, etc.
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Mathematics. the operation of finding the integral of a function or equation, especially solving a differential equation.
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behavior, as of an individual, that is in harmony with the environment.
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Psychology. the organization of the constituent elements of the personality into a coordinated, harmonious whole.
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Genetics. coadaptation.
noun
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the act of combining or adding parts to make a unified whole
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the act of amalgamating a racial or religious group with an existing community
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the combination of previously racially segregated social facilities into a nonsegregated system
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psychol organization into a unified pattern, esp of different aspects of the personality into a hierarchical system of functions
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the assimilation of nutritive material by the body during the process of anabolism
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maths an operation used in calculus in which the integral of a function or variable is determined; the inverse of differentiation
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In calculus, the process of calculating an integral. Integration is the inverse of differentiation, since integrating a given function results in a function whose derivative is the given function. Integration is used in the calculation of such things as the areas and volumes of irregular shapes and solids.
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Compare differentiation
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Those favoring integration of schools by such forceful means as busing or affirmative action have frequently argued that integration of schools will lead to integration of society as a whole. (See separate but equal.)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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de-integrationnoun
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integrationistnoun
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nonintegrationnoun
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self-integrationnoun
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anti-integrationadjective
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prointegrationadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of integration
First recorded in 1610–20; from Latin integrātiōn-, stem of integrātiō “renewal,” equivalent to integrāt(us) “renewed, restored” (past participle of integrāre; see integrate ( def. )) + -iō -ion ( def. )
Explanation
Integration occurs when separate people or things are brought together, like the integration of students from all of the district's elementary schools at the new middle school, or the integration of snowboarding on all ski slopes. You may know the word differentiate, meaning "set apart." Integrate is its opposite. When you integrate things, you bring them together. So integration is the act of doing just that, like the integration of African-American students into mixed-race schools after segregation was outlawed in the 1950s, or the integration of computers in businesses that had previously only used paper-based record-keeping.
Vocabulary lists containing integration
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Ivan Bassato, the airport's Chief Aviation Officer, told the BBC the integration with e-gates "improved things significantly".
From BBC ● Jul. 19, 2026
Sean McKinnon, director of specialty presentations and AV integration at Boston Light and Sound, is in charge of hiring these projectionists for about 60 venues across the country screening “The Odyssey” in 70mm.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 2026
The integration allows drivers to access Google Maps directly through the vehicle’s navigation system without downloading the app or relying on smartphone mirroring.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 16, 2026
"The integration is particularly useful for detecting low contrast signals or signals from very small objects."
From Science Daily ● Jul. 14, 2026
Calculus is the combination of these two tools, differentiation and integration, in one package.
From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife
When Meta announced the feature days ago, it said it was limited to Instagram, but more AI features and integrations were planned for WhatsApp, Facebook and Messenger.
From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2026
From that point on, an entire society becomes thinkable: exchanges of women between groups, asymmetrical integrations, reciprocal or non-reciprocal circulation, alliances, captures, or more brutal forms of intergroup relations.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 7, 2026
Enterprise products are currently more likely to opt in to other models with clear controls, compliance tooling, auditability, data-governance guarantees and workflow integrations.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 10, 2026
It marked one of the first integrations of generative AI in a major commercial production.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 13, 2026
He would be confined to integrations and dissipations of matter and motion.
From The Religion of the Samurai A Study of Zen Philosophy and Discipline in China and Japan by Nukariya, Kaiten
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.