domesticate

[ duh-mes-ti-keyt ]

verb (used with object)

, do·mes·ti·cat·ed, do·mes·ti·cat·ing.

1. to convert (animals, plants, etc.) to domestic uses; tame.
2. 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.
3. to adapt (a plant) so as to be cultivated by and beneficial to human beings.
4. to accustom to household life or affairs.
5. to take (something foreign, unfamiliar, etc.) for one's own use or purposes; adopt.
6. to make more ordinary, familiar, acceptable, or the like:

   to domesticate radical ideas.

verb (used without object)

, do·mes·ti·cat·ed, do·mes·ti·cat·ing.

1. to be domestic.

domesticate

/ dəˈmɛstɪˌsaɪz; dəˈmɛstɪˌkeɪt /

verb

1. to bring or keep (wild animals or plants) under control or cultivation
2. to accustom to home life
3. to adapt to an environment

   to domesticate foreign trees

Derived Forms

• doˈmestiˌcator, noun
• doˈmesticable, adjective
• doˈmesticative, adjective
• doˌmestiˈcation, noun

Other Words From

• do·mes·ti·ca·ble [d, uh, -, mes, -ti-k, uh, -b, uh, l], adjective
• do·mes·ti·ca·tion [d, uh, -mes-ti-, key, -sh, uh, n], noun
• do·mes·ti·ca·tive adjective
• do·mes·ti·ca·tor noun
• non·do·mes·ti·cat·ed adjective
• non·do·mes·ti·cat·ing adjective
• o·ver·do·mes·ti·cate verb (used with object) overdomesticated overdomesticating
• un·do·mes·ti·ca·ble adjective
• un·do·mes·ti·cat·ed adjective
• well-do·mes·ti·cat·ed adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of domesticate¹

First recorded in 1635–45; from Medieval Latin domesticātus (past participle of domesticāre ), equivalent to domestic- domestic + -ātus -ate ¹

Example Sentences

Even weirder, the source of these proteins relies on viral genes domesticated eons ago by our own genome through evolution.

From Singularity Hub 

Unlike their domesticated counterparts, the wolf puppies spent 12 to 24 hours a day in human care from about 10 days after birth up to and throughout the testing period.

From Popular-Science

Until now, SibFox was the closest anyone in the US had gotten to receiving a domesticated fox.

From Popular-Science

In fact, dogs are such great friends that humans probably domesticated them not once, but twice.

From Science News For Students

In those boxes lay samples from 148 species and 41 genera of domesticated plants collected from 109 countries.

From Nautilus

Humans spent a long time domesticating cattle, and what they were trying to do, in essence, was de-domesticate them.

From The Daily Beast

As Sandra Bullock has found out, any attempt to domesticate them will end in a resounding failure.

From The Daily Beast

By marginalizing certain political tendencies, the European approach makes it harder to domesticate them.

From The Daily Beast

I know a pretty woman from a plain one, I hope, even though I dont personally want to domesticate the recording angel.

From Project Gutenberg

The hunter is thought to have been seized, one fine day, with an impulse to domesticate animals instead of hunting them.

From Project Gutenberg

His place was well named for he was a great horticulturist, the first to domesticate the Catawba grape.

From Project Gutenberg

They have now begun to domesticate certain species of Meliponas, by introducing them into earthen pots or wooden cases.

From Project Gutenberg

They seem somewhat like the buffalo and other wild animals that we have never been able to domesticate.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• naturalize