domesticate

[duh-mes-ti-keyt]

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verb (used with object), do·mes·ti·cat·ed, do·mes·ti·cat·ing.

to convert (animals, plants, etc.) to domestic uses; tame.

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.

to adapt (a plant) so as to be cultivated by and beneficial to human beings.

to accustom to household life or affairs.

to take (something foreign, unfamiliar, etc.) for one's own use or purposes; adopt.

to make more ordinary, familiar, acceptable, or the like: to domesticate radical ideas.

verb (used without object), do·mes·ti·cat·ed, do·mes·ti·cat·ing.

to be domestic.

Origin of domesticate

1635–45; < Medieval Latin domesticātus (past participle of domesticāre), equivalent to domestic- domestic + -ātus -ate¹

Related formsdo·mes·ti·ca·ble

[duh-mes-ti-kuh-buh l] /dəˈmɛs tɪ kə bəl/, adjectivedo·mes·ti·ca·tion, noundo·mes·ti·ca·tive, adjectivedo·mes·ti·ca·tor, nounnon·do·mes·ti·cat·ed, adjectivenon·do·mes·ti·cat·ing, adjectiveo·ver·do·mes·ti·cate, verb (used with object), o·ver·do·mes·ti·cat·ed, o·ver·do·mes·ti·cat·ing.un·do·mes·ti·ca·ble, adjectiveun·do·mes·ti·cat·ed, adjectivewell-do·mes·ti·cat·ed, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for domestication

discipline, instruction, workout, practice, schooling, drill, teaching, education, guidance, exercise, coaching, control, development, restraint, self-restraint, will, regulation, preparation, self-control, method

Examples from the Web for domestication

Contemporary Examples of domestication

What I see happening, with writers like Charlaine Harris and Stephenie Meyer, is the domestication of the vampire.
Anne Rice on Sparkly Vampires, ‘Twilight,’ ‘True Blood,’ and Werewolves
Marlow Stern
November 23, 2011

Historical Examples of domestication

Its chief defect for domestication is the small size of the fruit.
Manual of American Grape-Growing
U. P. Hedrick
This, in fact, is the great bar to the domestication of animals.
On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection
Charles Darwin
The adaptation of the unicorns proceeded in the following years, but not their domestication.
Space Prison
Tom Godwin
It may be said that domestication might produce them in the latter.
Anecdotes of Dogs
Edward Jesse
This was one of the results of his domestication in Washington Square.
Washington Square
Henry James

British Dictionary definitions for domestication

domesticate

sometimes US domesticize (dəˈmɛstɪˌsaɪz)

verb (tr)

to bring or keep (wild animals or plants) under control or cultivation

to accustom to home life

to adapt to an environmentto domesticate foreign trees

Derived Formsdomesticable, adjectivedomestication, noundomesticative, adjectivedomesticator, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for domestication

1774; see domestic + -ation.

domesticate

1630s, of animals; 1741, of persons, "to cause to be attached to home and family;" from Medieval Latin domesticatus, past participle of domesticare "to tame," literally "to dwell in a house," from domesticus (see domestic). Related: Domesticated; domesticating.