digestion

/dəˈdʒɛstʃən/

/daɪˈdʒɛstʃɪn/

Other forms: digestions

Digestion is the process your body goes through to break the food you eat into substances that it can absorb and use. Chewing is an important first step in digestion, because your teeth make food small enough to swallow.

Your digestion isn't usually something you spend much time thinking about, unless you eat something that upsets your digestion — then the process can be uncomfortable. You can also describe the breakdown of other types of material — when it's exposed to chemicals or bacteria, for example — as digestion. A figurative kind of digestion happens when you think through complicated information and begin to make sense of it all.

Definitions of digestion

1. noun

   the organic process by which food is converted into substances that can be absorbed into the body
   types:

   gastric digestion

   the process of breaking down proteins by the action of the gastric juice in the stomach

   type of:

   biological process, organic process

   a process occurring in living organisms
2. noun

   the process of decomposing organic matter (as in sewage) by bacteria or by chemical action or heat
   type of:

   chemical action, chemical change, chemical process

   (chemistry) any process determined by the atomic and molecular composition and structure of the substances involved
3. noun

   learning and coming to understand ideas and information
   “his appetite for facts was better than his digestion”

   type of:

   acquisition, learning

   the cognitive process of acquiring skill or knowledge