Osmosis

Posted by ESC on April 21, 2004

In Reply to: Osmosis posted by Maria on April 21, 2004

: Hi, everyone!
: I'm a bit confused with the phrase "influence by osmosis". The contex is " People influence you in a way that you can talk about or simply by osmosis?"
: Help me pls to handle it.
: Thank you

Merriam-Webster online, Meaning 2a:

2 : a process of absorption or diffusion suggestive of the flow of osmotic action; especially : a usually effortless often unconscious assimilation. Learned a number of languages by osmosis.

We can be influenced by people, places or things simply by being around them. There's no active, overt effort on their part to influence us. We aren't aware that it is taking place and couldn't say exactly how and when it happened..