[os.mo.sis] n [NL, short for endosmosis] (1867) 1: movement of a solvent through a semipermeable membrane (as of a living cell) into a solution of higher solute concentration that tends to equalize the concentrations of solute on the two sides of the membrane
2: a process of absorption or diffusion suggestive of the flow of osmotic action; esp: a usu. effortless often unconscious assimilation "learned a number of languages by ~ --Roger Kimball"