Integrate

How to spell integrate

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce integrate

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does integrate mean?

1. verbTo combine separate parts or elements into a single unified whole.
2. verbTo bring people of different groups into equal participation within a community or institution.

Integrate in a sentence

• The new software can integrate data from several departments.

• The programme helps refugees integrate into local communities.

• The council aims to integrate housing and transport planning.

• The school worked hard to integrate children from every background.

Where does integrate come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin verb integrare, meaning 'to make whole' or 'to renew', which was built on the adjective integer, literally 'untouched' or 'undivided'. That integer in turn came from the prefix in- ('not') and a root related to tangere ('to touch'), so the original idea was something left whole because nothing had touched or spoiled it. English adopted integrate in the early 1600s in the sense of combining parts into a single whole, and the mathematical and social meanings grew from that same core notion. The very same Latin integer survives unchanged in English as the word for a whole number, and the related noun 'integrity' carries the moral sense of being undivided and sound. Keeping that integer in mind helps with the spelling, since the trap is the unstressed middle vowel, which is an e rather than the a many writers expect.

How the word is built

• integr- (from Latin integer: whole, untouched)
• -ate (verb suffix)