domesticate
Americanverb (used with object)
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to tame (an animal), especially by generations of breeding, to live in close association with human beings as a pet or work animal and usually creating a dependency so that the animal loses its ability to live in the wild.
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to adapt (a plant) so as to be cultivated by and beneficial to human beings.
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to accustom to household life or affairs.
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to take (something foreign, unfamiliar, etc.) for one's own use or purposes; adopt.
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to make more ordinary, familiar, acceptable, or the like.
to domesticate radical ideas.
verb (used without object)
verb
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to bring or keep (wild animals or plants) under control or cultivation
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to accustom to home life
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to adapt to an environment
to domesticate foreign trees
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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domesticatornoun
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nondomesticatedadjective
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undomesticatedadjective
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well-domesticatedadjective
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domesticableadjective
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undomesticableadjective
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domesticativeadjective
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overdomesticateverb (used with object)
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domesticationnoun
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nondomesticatingadjective
Conjugated Forms
Present
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has domesticatedperfect 3rd person singular
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have domesticatedperfect
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am domesticatingprogressive 1st person singular
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have been domesticatingperfect progressive
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is domesticatingprogressive 3rd person singular
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has been domesticatingperfect progressive 3rd person singular
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are domesticatingprogressive
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domesticatessingular 3rd person
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domesticatingparticiple
Past
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had domesticatedperfect
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were domesticatingprogressive plural
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was domesticatingprogressive singular
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had been domesticatingperfect progressive
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domesticatedsimple
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domesticatedparticiple
Future
Etymology
Origin of domesticate
First recorded in 1635–45; from Medieval Latin domesticātus (past participle of domesticāre ), equivalent to domestic- domestic + -ātus -ate 1
Explanation
To domesticate something is to tame a wild animal or plant so it can live with people. Dogs and cats are called domesticated animals because they live with us peacefully. Nobody knows who first domesticated a wolf, but whoever it was was a very important person. If people hadn't started living with wolves, slowly domesticating them and teaching them to get along with people, wolves would never have evolved into today's dogs. We usually talk about how to domesticate animals, but wild plants can be domesticated too.
Vocabulary lists containing domesticate
The Middle East and Central Asia - Introductory
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The Middle East and Central Asia - Middle School
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The Middle East and Central Asia - High School
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
