/
dɪˈsɪmɪleɪt/
v.
 Linguistics  change (a sound in a word) to another when the word originally had identical sounds near each other (e.g. in 
taper, which derives from 
papyrus, the 
p is dissimilated to 
t).
Derivative
- dissimilation n.
  - dissimilatory adj.
 
Etymology
C19: from dis- + L. similis ‘like, similar’, on the pattern of assimilate.