marinate
Americanverb (used with object)
-
marinates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
marinated,
past participle, past
-
marinating
present participle
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
marinatesimple
-
marinatessimple
-
have marinatedperfect
-
has marinatedperfect
-
am marinatingprogressive
-
are marinatingprogressive
-
is marinatingprogressive
-
have been marinatingperfect progressive
-
has been marinatingperfect progressive
Past
-
marinatedsimple
-
had marinatedperfect
-
was marinatingprogressive
-
were marinatingprogressive
-
had been marinatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of marinate
1635–45; probably < Italian marinato, past participle of marinare to pickle. See marine, -ate 1
Explanation
When you marinate food, you let it sit in a flavorful liquid before cooking it. You might marinate fish in soy sauce before putting it on the grill. The liquid used to marinate meat, fish, or vegetables is called a "marinade," and it usually includes some acidic ingredient like lemon juice or vinegar that helps the flavors penetrate the food. When you marinate chicken or tofu or beef, it becomes more moist and delicious after you cook it. The French root, mariner, means "to pickle in sea brine."
Vocabulary lists containing marinate
A Culinary Vocabulary Sampler
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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:
“It’s better to still marinate the Russians,” Alexander Gabuev, director of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, said of China’s approach to the negotiations.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026
For at least one more year, the Sparks have to marinate in their past mistakes and hope that their veterans can somehow lay a foundation for their future..
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 15, 2026
"Sometimes a song needs to marinate for a year, six months, it can take some time," she says.
From BBC ● Sep. 27, 2025
Like I'll throw a grilled chicken — I’ll marinate, you know what’s a great marinade?
From Salon ● Aug. 1, 2024
Koffi let the word marinate in her head.
From "Beasts of Prey" by Ayana Gray
He steps away to rest his tired back as the sickening result marinates.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 24, 2023
A trained writer, meanwhile, marinates in speech from people who weren’t taught the nuances of lay vs. lie, or pedagogically hassled out of extraneous likes.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 2, 2022
As sushi purveyors did before the age of refrigeration, he marinates some fish in soy and presses others beneath sheets of kelp.
From New York Times ● Aug. 31, 2021
As this happens, our culture marinates in the toxic assumption "that everything ought to be done for the sake of something else, and never for its own sake."
From Salon ● Mar. 20, 2021
Now behold water-spouts vomiting as they rush over the pavements, and rubbish marinates in puddles that fill the holes scooped out of the macadam.
From Against the Grain by J.-K. (Joris-Karl) Huysmans
The app has boosted lesser-known businesses and sent tourists in droves to unconventional locations such as Zibo, a quiet industrial city in Shandong, after its cheap, marinated barbecue skewers went viral.
From Barron's ● Jul. 13, 2026
Extras: One of the things I love most about marinated beans is their restraint.
From Salon ● Jun. 16, 2026
It’s billed as different from “your average rib sandwich,” with ribs that have been hand-deboned, marinated in a proprietary barbecue-sauce blend with apple-cider vinegar, then slow-cooked for nine hours.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 29, 2026
The initial videos were made using ByteDance’s AI tools by a Chinese food company to promote its marinated duck.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 26, 2026
The table filled up with olives, purple marinated turnips, plates of baba ghanouj and hummus, and hot flat breads, even before the real lunch came.
From "Habibi" by Naomi Shihab Nye
In the classroom, trainees crowded around instructor Luo Duocheng as he demonstrated slicing a slab of beef, marinating it, and skewering the meat to form identical kebabs.
From Barron's ● Jul. 2, 2026
This isn’t Tom Brady marinating on an Eames chair for six weeks before deciding to give football another go.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 30, 2026
After marinating, you will want to set some aside for an easy dip or salad dressing.
From Salon ● Jun. 6, 2024
We’re marinating on some ideas to cook something up for them.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 7, 2023
I had fish marinating for dinner, with a salad and bread left over from the night before, so there was nothing to do there.
From "Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer
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.
