- past tense form of domesticate.
- past participle of domesticate.
domesticated
Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
Explanation
Domesticated means trained to live or work for humans, i.e. pets and farm animals. For centuries humans have believe that dogs are domesticated wolves, but DNA testing reveals that they are in fact a different species. Domesticated comes from domus, the Latin word for home, which is easy to remember — instead of a "roof over our heads" think of your "home as a dome." Domus gives us not only domesticated (adapted to the home or the farm), but also domestic (cooking and cleaning are "domestic" chores), a domestic (someone like a maid who works inside a home as a paid employee), and domicile (a building that serves as a home). Thus domesticated means an animal tamed to live in your home — or, as some women like to joke, a man.
Vocabulary lists containing domesticated
Dog Vocabulary: A Canine Lexicon
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Cat Vocabulary: A Feline Lexicon
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"The Great Gatsby," Chapter 1 Vocabulary
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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.
Dusky farmerfish in East Asia grow “crops” of red algae by assiduously “weeding out less palatable foods” and have effectively domesticated a type of shrimp whose waste fertilizes the algae and boosts yields.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026
But there’s also some solid evidence that humans domesticated ourselves, selecting tameness over aggression.
From Salon ● Apr. 23, 2026
By examining genetic material preserved in bones and teeth, his team is tracing how domesticated animals such as cattle, goats and sheep spread from the Fertile Crescent across Eurasia.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 7, 2026
Sheep were first domesticated approximately 10,500 years ago in the Middle East, and were eventually brought to British shores by Neolithic farmers some time around 4000BC.
From BBC ● Mar. 5, 2026
The first domesticated horse I ever saw was a bay gelding, and it was standing next to the corral, nibbling sugar cubes from Shawn’s hand.
From "Educated" by Tara Westover
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.
