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
Discover More
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
- anti-integration adjective
- de-integration noun
- integrationist noun
- nonintegration noun
- prointegration adjective
- self-integration noun
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.
The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats both said they recognised the challenges faced by people living with diabetes and supported "better integration" of physical and mental health services.
From BBC • Apr. 17, 2026
Perkins said Canva had strategic partnerships with the tools’ developers, adding that customers had been asking for such integration for at least five years.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 16, 2026
The board argued that the bank needed fresh leadership with skills more closely aligned with new challenges and a greater openness to dialogue to see through the transformative integration of Mediobanca.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 16, 2026
For much of the market, and especially the big-spending hyperscalers, the costs — investment, integration, disruption — arrive before the payoff.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 15, 2026
I understood that integration might not be easy.
From "Reaching for the Moon" by Katherine Johnson
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.
