domesticate

[duh-mes-ti-keyt]

verb (used with object)

domesticated, domesticating 

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)

domesticated, domesticating 

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

Other Word Forms

• domesticable adjective
• domestication noun
• domesticative adjective
• domesticator noun
• nondomesticated adjective
• nondomesticating adjective
• overdomesticate verb (used with object)
• undomesticable adjective
• undomesticated adjective
• well-domesticated 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

Leopard cats did not become domesticated and continue to live wild across Asia.

Read more on BBC

Dogs were the first animals to be domesticated.

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"Corn was domesticated in Central America and has only been in this area for a few thousand years."

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She’s updated the play’s setting to 1950s England, a similar-in-spirit era in which well-bred women were kept domesticated.

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The same goes for Halle Berry, whose dumb ex, former baseball player David Justice, recently went on a podcast and claimed he left her because the actress wasn’t sufficiently domesticated for his tastes.

Read more on Salon

Related Words

• naturalize