osmosis

/äzˈmōsis,äs-/

noun

noun: osmosis

1.  

   a process by which molecules of a solvent tend to pass through a semipermeable membrane from a less concentrated solution into a more concentrated one, thus equalizing the concentrations on each side of the membrane.

2.  

   the process of gradual or unconscious assimilation of ideas, knowledge, etc.

   "what she knows of the blue-blood set she learned not through birthright, not even through wealth, but through osmosis"