gestate

American  

[jes-tayt] / ˈdʒɛs teɪt /

verb (used with object)

gestated, gestating

1. to carry in the womb during the period from conception to delivery.

2. to think of and develop (an idea, opinion, plan, etc.) slowly in the mind.

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verb (used without object)

gestated, gestating

1. to experience the process of gestating offspring.

2. to develop slowly.

gestate British  

/ ˈdʒɛsteɪt /

verb

1. (tr) to carry (developing young) in the uterus during pregnancy

2. (tr) to develop (a plan or idea) in the mind

3. (intr) to be in the process of gestating

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Etymology

Origin of gestate

First recorded in 1865–70; from Latin gestātus, past participle of gestāre “to carry about, carry in the womb,” frequentative of gerere “to bear, perform”

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Explanation

It's unclear just how long it took for the idea for the website to gestate. Did he think of it right away, or did it take months for him to come up with the idea? When something is gestating, it's literally in the womb, developing into whatever it will be when it's finally born. Other things besides living organisms can gestate, however. Frequently, gestate is used to refer to ideas and plans while they're in the development phase. The idea for a new way to market music to a generation of kids who expect it to be free was gestating for years before iTunes was launched. A gestation period is the time it takes for something to be born. Humans, for example, gestate for nine months.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

gestate gestated gestating

It's surrogacy, or the practice in which someone with a uterus agrees to gestate and deliver a baby on the behalf of other parents.

From Salon ● Feb. 4, 2024

Sheep typically gestate for about 5 months; the lambs that the researchers used were the equivalent of a human fetus at 23 weeks of gestation.

From Scientific American ● Sep. 18, 2023

And with smaller indie venues unable to compete for big-name talent, they’re less likely to take chances on sparsely attended scenes that need time to gestate.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 15, 2023

“Even if we got it genetically perfect, we are still going to have to gestate it in a different species, so why would you think it would be exactly the same?”

From Science Magazine ● Mar. 9, 2022

We're fighting for time—time for Charlie and his gang to crack the puzzle, time for the Grdznth girls to gestate.

From PRoblem by Alan Edward Nourse

They gestated 36 weeks, a good time for triplets.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 31, 2026

Latifi, who gestated the book alongside her firstborn, argues that becoming an influencer is the modern pitch to mothers that they can raise a family without sacrificing their careers.

From Salon ● May 10, 2026

While Johnson had been invited to record closer-to-home before, it took his comfort and confidence in his collaborators to get him to finally cut these songs that gestated over neighborhood walks and late-night guitar-tinkering sessions.

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 22, 2023

In Dallas, an idea to build a park over the Woodall Rodgers Freeway gestated for decades.

From New York Times ● Oct. 8, 2019

It is the labored working of the mass, and the working of the mass brings forth and casts up fanatics, reformers, leaders, when it has gestated them and prepared the way for their birth.

From Youth Challenges by Clarence Budington Kelland

"The kicker is within two or three days of giving birth, they fall pregnant again so while they're rearing the first litter, they're gestating the second," Henry says.

From BBC ● May 30, 2026

These duplicitous celebrities, so the rumor mill grinds, have hired mysterious surrogates to do their gestating work.

From Slate ● Jul. 21, 2025

While this project is slowly gestating, two prominent showrunners float Kaplan’s name as a supervising producer for their new show.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 22, 2024

As you might expect, Rebeck has more work on the horizon — plenty of rewrites and updates on plays already gestating, and a new musical she is birthing with Cyndi Lauper.

From Seattle Times ● Oct. 12, 2023

But she is gestating, and gestation with her is always perturbing.

From What I Remember, Volume 2 by Thomas Adolphus Trollope

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