imbibe
Americanverb (used with object)
-
to consume (liquids) by drinking; drink.
He imbibed great quantities of iced tea.
- Synonyms:
- swallow
-
to absorb or soak up, as water, light, or heat.
Plants imbibe moisture from the soil.
-
to take or receive into the mind, as knowledge, ideas, or the like.
to imbibe a sermon; to imbibe beautiful scenery.
verb (used without object)
-
to drink, especially alcoholic beverages.
Just a soft drink for me—I don't imbibe.
-
to absorb liquid or moisture.
-
Archaic. to soak or saturate; imbue.
verb
-
to drink (esp alcoholic drinks)
-
literary to take in or assimilate (ideas, facts, etc)
to imbibe the spirit of the Renaissance
-
(tr) to take in as if by drinking
to imbibe fresh air
-
to absorb or cause to absorb liquid or moisture; assimilate or saturate
Synonym Usage
See drink.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
imbibesimple
-
imbibessimple
-
have imbibedperfect
-
has imbibedperfect
-
am imbibingprogressive
-
are imbibingprogressive
-
is imbibingprogressive
-
have been imbibingperfect progressive
-
has been imbibingperfect progressive
Past
-
imbibedsimple
-
had imbibedperfect
-
was imbibingprogressive
-
were imbibingprogressive
-
had been imbibingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of imbibe
1350–1400; < Latin imbibere to drink in, equivalent to im- im- 1 + bibere to drink; replacing Middle English enbiben < Middle French embiber < Latin, as above
Explanation
Imbibe is a fancy word for "drink." If you need to imbibe ten cups of coffee just to get out of the house, you might have a caffeine problem. Although the verb imbibe means to take in liquids of any sort, if you don't specify the liquid, people are likely to infer you mean an alcoholic beverage. You can also use it figuratively. If you have imbibed every detail about every battle of the U.S. Civil War, you must find the subject interesting.
Vocabulary lists containing imbibe
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
The Scarlet Letter
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Jane Eyre
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Fewer people in the U.S. are drinking alcohol, and when they do imbibe, they drink less than they used to.
From MarketWatch ● Dec. 23, 2025
Americans generally are drinking less, because of health concerns as well as the use of GLP-1 weight-loss drugs that can curb the desire to imbibe.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 18, 2025
An extremely light drinker, Yamamoto said that even the magnitude of this victory couldn’t drive him to imbibe any of the adult beverages provided to the players.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 12, 2024
Lactose added to a beer brew near the end just sits and waits for the actual drinker to imbibe it.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 8, 2023
“The sword can destroy Horcruxes! Goblin-made blades imbibe only that which strengthen them—Harry, that sword’s impregnated with basilisk venom!”
From "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling
The nectar isn’t so potent that the plants catch every ant that imbibes; many of the insects are able to shrug off its effects and make it home to deliver the sweet treat.
From Science Magazine ● Nov. 29, 2023
In other words, Musk, who imbibes and regurgitates bad memes, has built a machine that is also designed to imbibe and regurgitate bad memes.
From Slate ● Nov. 7, 2023
It imbibes the illusion of omnipotence and wallows in self-adulation.
From Salon ● May 7, 2023
With a Bourdain-like gift for chatting up strangers and a willingness to disregard the gross factor, he imbibes traditional drinks from the familiar to the extreme while exploring the cultures that made the cocktails popular.
From Washington Post ● May 7, 2020
But your heart imbibes the lovely simplicity; your voice falls into tune with voices around you; and more and more do you love that rural little home, and all its verdant views.
From Summerfield or, Life on a Farm by Lee, Day Kellogg
Living within the system of slavery, enslaved and free people talked, traded goods, imbibed and celebrated.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
He used to work with the cousins' fathers: "They were amazing people who loved what they did and have imbibed their children with this altruistic behaviour."
From BBC ● Jan. 22, 2025
There are gigantic sandworms to be mounted and surfed like waves, vials of blue goo to be imbibed for clarifying properties, yet “Dune: Part Two” fixes firmly on the idea of authenticity.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 21, 2024
And while Museveni imbibed Marxism and as a college student sought to verify Frantz Fanon’s theory of violence, Kainerugaba has not outlined his political vision.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 15, 2023
A girl with him smiled, tilted her head back, imbibed, laughed.
From "Between the World and Me" by Ta-Nehisi Coates
All of which is true but, for a book featuring Franklin and Washington happily imbibing on the cover, it’s a bit of a buzzkill.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 28, 2026
Perhaps the reason is they really are too scared to go into the city, after imbibing years of lies that New York is a war zone.
From Salon ● Apr. 24, 2024
There’s a lot of people that are still suffering from anxiety and mental illness that are still imbibing dangerous conspiracy theories.
From Slate ● Apr. 3, 2023
Born in 1936 to a textile shop owner and a homemaker, Tanaami grew up during the United States occupation of Japan, imbibing a heavy dose of American culture.
From New York Times ● Oct. 7, 2022
Sometimes she neglected to ration her water, imbibing too much in the morning and staring with bitterness at the fountain the rest of the day.
From "The Underground Railroad: A Novel" by Colson Whitehead
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.
