perforate
Americanverb (used with object)
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perforates,
present (3rd person singular)
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perforated,
past participle, past
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perforating
present participle
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to make a hole or holes through by boring, punching, piercing, or the like.
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to pierce through or to the interior of; penetrate.
verb (used without object)
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perforates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
perforated,
past participle, past
-
perforating
present participle
adjective
verb
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to make a hole or holes in (something); penetrate
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(tr) to punch rows of holes between (stamps, coupons, etc) for ease of separation
adjective
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biology
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pierced by small holes
perforate shells
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marked with small transparent spots
-
-
philately another word for perforated
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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perforatornoun
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multiperforateadjective
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nonperforatingadjective
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perforableadjective
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perforativeadjective
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unperforableadjective
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unperforatingadjective
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unperforativeadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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perforatesimple
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perforatessimple
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have perforatedperfect
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has perforatedperfect
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am perforatingprogressive
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are perforatingprogressive
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is perforatingprogressive
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have been perforatingperfect progressive
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has been perforatingperfect progressive
Past
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perforatedsimple
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had perforatedperfect
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was perforatingprogressive
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were perforatingprogressive
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had been perforatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of perforate
1530–40; < Latin perforātus, past participle of perforāre to bore 2 through; see per-
Explanation
When you perforate something, you make a hole in it, like when you poke holes in a piece of aluminum foil to let steam escape while something is cooking. The word perforate has origins in the Latin word perforatus, the past participle of perforare, meaning “to bore through.” When you perforate something that’s essentially what you do: you bore through it, or punch a hole or holes in it like paper you perforate to fit the rings on your binder, or a leather belt that has been perforated with holes so that you can buckle it.
Vocabulary lists containing perforate
Born a Crime
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Chuck Berry (1926-2017) Tribute List
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The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
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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:
The state has also been a major oil and gas producer for more than a century, and authorities are well aware some 35,000 old, inactive oil and gas wells perforate the landscape.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 31, 2022
Scopes can cause bleeding or even perforate the bowel, something that occurs in about one of every 2,500 procedures.
From Scientific American ● Nov. 18, 2021
Circular apertures perforate the Viroc walls, pixelating the view and transforming the flamboyant landscape into a pointillist canvas; it’s the inverse of trompe l’oeil, with natural beauty manipulated to look like painting.
From New York Times ● Sep. 8, 2021
The cytotrophoblast cells perforate the chorionic villi, burrow farther into the endometrium, and remodel maternal blood vessels to augment maternal blood flow surrounding the villi.
From Textbooks ● Jun. 19, 2013
Example of a branched adherent calcareous perforate Recticularian.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 10, Slice 6 "Foraminifera" to "Fox, Edward" by Various
At its deepest point, the cut perforates about 3 inches into the tree’s trunk.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 26, 2024
Complications include chronic pain and mesh erosion, where the device cuts through tissue and perforates organs.
From BBC ● Feb. 3, 2022
Apollo 13 13: During Elon Musk’s maiden voyage, his ego becomes so big that it perforates the spaceship’s hull, necessitating a dangerous rescue.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 1, 2018
“Putting all this extra stitching in one place, however, actually perforates the fabric so I spread out the reinforcement stitching, forming an ‘X’ at each stress point.”
From Slate ● Dec. 26, 2012
In spring it perforates its silken prison, and soon makes its escape a splendid butterfly, subsisting upon the juices of the flowers obtained through its proboscis.
From Adventures of a Young Naturalist by Parker Gillmore
Ioan, who broke both arms, and suffered a fractured rib and perforated bowel, said he wished his dad was still here to "watch me grow up and be my dad".
From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2026
Dozens of pasta formats, made with flour from the company’s own mill, are shaped by traditional bronze dies, or perforated disks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 10, 2025
I started doing research into really nerdy stuff, and the perforated walls you see in the dark corridors are shipping pallets.”
From Salon ● Jul. 17, 2025
Most of it is extremely low-lying and perforated by tidal canals.
From Slate ● Jun. 22, 2025
Soon, the famous whistling arrows of the Mongol nomads would shriek through the perforated rock and find their targets.
From "The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams" by Daniel Nayeri
In Zachary's case it ended up perforating at 28 weeks which led to an emergency C-section.
From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2024
The practice of perforating pipelines and storing oil in pools in the jungle is an environmental disaster, Reuters reported last year, after visiting clandestine refineries in Narino province.
From Reuters ● Jul. 27, 2023
The contemplative work features beads of water that emerge from, pool atop and are reabsorbed into pinholes perforating the floor.
From New York Times ● Nov. 17, 2022
But Borum noted that it’s not unusual for people with ulcers to be asymptomatic until they develop a complication, such as bleeding or perforating, as in Dingell’s case.
From Washington Post ● May 26, 2021
Modernity, led by the automobile, was perforating the frontier.
From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand
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.
