Other forms: immersed, immersing, immerses
To immerse something is to sink it fully into water. Not a splash — right under.
The literal sense belongs to cooking, science and baptism, and it always means completely covered. The figurative use is far commoner and much warmer, since immersing yourself in a book, a language or a job means giving it your whole attention. Language teaching has immersion, where learners are surrounded by the target language all day. The adjective immersive describes an experience that surrounds you, and virtual reality took the word over completely.
1verbimmerseTo put something completely under a liquid.
“Immerse the jars in boiling water for ten minutes.”
2verbinvolveTo involve yourself deeply in something.
“He immersed himself in the archives for a year.”
Also accepted in games: submerge
Latin
immersus
English, today
immerse
Borrowed from Latin immersus, from immergō, from in + mergō.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in Sharper Verbs, A Man Called Ove
First appears in chapter 2 of A Man Called Ove.
Practise this word