flagellate
Americanverb (used with object)
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flagellates,
present (3rd person singular)
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flagellated,
past participle, past
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flagellating
present participle
adjective
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Biology. Also flagellated having flagella.
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Botany. producing filiform runners or runnerlike branches, as the strawberry.
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pertaining to or caused by flagellates.
noun
verb
adjective
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possessing one or more flagella
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resembling a flagellum; whiplike
noun
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Any of various protozoans of the subphylum Mastigophora that move by means of one or more flagella. Some flagellates can make food by photosynthesis (such as euglenas and volvox), and are often classified as green algae by botanists. Others are symbiotic or parasitic (such as trypanosomes). Flagellates are related to amoebas.
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Also called mastigophoran
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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flagellationnoun
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flagellatornoun
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flagellatoryadjective
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multiflagellateadjective
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multiflagellatedadjective
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nonflagellateadjective
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nonflagellatedadjective
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preflagellateadjective
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preflagellatedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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flagellatesimple
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flagellatessimple
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have flagellatedperfect
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has flagellatedperfect
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am flagellatingprogressive
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are flagellatingprogressive
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is flagellatingprogressive
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have been flagellatingperfect progressive
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has been flagellatingperfect progressive
Past
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flagellatedsimple
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had flagellatedperfect
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was flagellatingprogressive
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were flagellatingprogressive
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had been flagellatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of flagellate
1615–25; < Latin flagellātus, past participle of flagellāre to whip. See flagellum, -ate 1
Explanation
To flagellate is to hit or beat, especially with a whip. These days, in most parts of the world, people rarely flagellate others as a punishment. While the verb flagellate can be used for any variety of whipping or beating, it often means a kind of religious self-punishment. This practice, while not common today, exists among some groups of Catholics who hit their own shoulders and backs as part of religious discipline. Flagellate comes from the noun flagellum, "a slender, thread-like structure," or in Latin, "whip."
Vocabulary lists containing flagellate
Persepolis
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Friday Night Lights
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The Black Kids
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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:
But she also didn’t flagellate herself for the struggle.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 19, 2023
The flushing was ordered after three of 11 samples of the Lake Jackson’s water tested positive for the deadly flagellate.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 6, 2020
But we don't need to flagellate ourselves with with guilt just because we happened to be born male identified.”
From Salon ● Dec. 13, 2018
The point of propelling moral progress is obviously not to accept the status quo, but it’s to identify problems and identify the solution to the problems, not to identify villains and flagellate the villains.
From Slate ● Feb. 20, 2018
They didn’t need to dwell on it over and over the way the coaches did and flagellate themselves with it.
From "Friday Night Lights: A Town, A Team, And A Dream" by H.G. Bissinger
"This feeding mode is unique, and demonstrates how pico-sized flagellates can feed on larger cells, which is often not considered in the modelling of microbial food webs."
From Salon ● Dec. 10, 2022
In order from the bottom, these are diplomonads, microsporidia, trichomonads, flagellates, entamoebae, slime molds, and ciliates.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2015
There are plenty of various weird critters, including small flagellates, some of which are rare — and some of which seem to have never been documented before!
From Scientific American ● Oct. 17, 2013
This time he flagellates himself for overestimating Rick Perry and underestimating Newt Gingrich.
From Slate ● Dec. 31, 2011
A believer who flagellates or "macerates" himself today arouses more wonder and fear than emulation.
From Varieties of Religious Experience, a Study in Human Nature by William James
The altered microbiota included higher levels of flagellated bacteria, which are known to activate the immune system and promote inflammation.
From Science Daily ● Dec. 26, 2025
The real-life Lawrence had himself flagellated, reflecting a tortured soul more than a starchy independent.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 6, 2022
Studies of Volvox, an alga that forms beautiful, flagellated green balls, shows that multicellular organisms also found new ways to use existing functions.
From Science Magazine ● Jun. 28, 2018
Some think he flagellated himself too much and BBC top brass not enough.
From The Guardian ● Oct. 8, 2017
We shall have you turning monk," said he, "a candidate for canonization going barefoot, with flagellated back and shaven head.
From Saint Martin's Summer by Rafael Sabatini
During the Ashura processions, which are held across the world, many participants beat their backs with chains, flagellating themselves in a symbolic expression of regret for not being able to help Hussein before his martyrdom.
From Washington Times ● Aug. 19, 2021
A: No, you should not start flagellating yourself for the benefit of rude strangers.
From Slate ● Mar. 17, 2020
The central composer was the twentieth-century Russian ascetic Galina Ustvolskaya, who wrote spiritual music of flagellating force.
From The New Yorker ● Jun. 25, 2018
A crawling, oozing, flagellating suite of microbial life is central to the plant’s work.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 12, 2017
Consider coolly whether you are flagellating a thick-coated dog, or one with a skin not much coarser than your own.
From The Dog by Dinks
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.
