Incorporate a Matisse forgery about the Italian? (10)
I believe the answer is:
assimilate
'incorporate' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'a matisse forgery about the italian?' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'a' is found in the answer.
'about' could be 'a' (abbreviation in Chambers) and 'a' is found in the answer.
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is found in the answer.
'italian?' could be 'i' (abbreviation for Italian) and 'i' is found within the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for assimilate that I've seen before include "pick up" , "Absorb and digest (food)" , "thoroughly understood" , "Take in and understand" , "Become part of the prevailing culture" .)