gestate

[ jes-teyt ]

See synonyms for: gestate gestated gestates gestating on Thesaurus.com

verb (used with object),ges·tat·ed, ges·tat·ing.

to carry in the womb during the period from conception to delivery.
to think of and develop (an idea, opinion, plan, etc.) slowly in the mind.

verb (used without object),ges·tat·ed, ges·tat·ing.

to experience the process of gestating offspring.
to develop slowly.

Origin of gestate

First recorded in 1865–70; from Latin gestātus, past participle of gestāre “to carry about, carry in the womb,” frequentative of gerere “to bear, perform”

Words Nearby gestate

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use gestate in a sentence

Still, the animals grow slowly and take nearly two years to gestate their young.
Ivory poaching has triggered a surge in elephants born without tusks | Kate Baggaley | October 22, 2021 | Popular-Science
While some fish can carry over a million eggs per gestation, Ernande says, coelacanths only carry around 20 on top of being slow to mature and gestate.
These ancient deep-sea fish can live five times as long as biologists expected | Sara Kiley Watson | June 25, 2021 | Popular-Science
This may be because larger male fetuses are typically more taxing to gestate and trigger more inflammation in our bodies.
Moms: You shaped your children, but the reverse is true, too — down to your very cells | Abigail Tucker | May 6, 2021 | Washington Post
If long-gestating technologies like AI and automation really are ready to fulfill their potential, we'll have the chance to escape the great stagnation that has choked our economy and poisoned our politics.
2021 could be the year automation and AI truly accelerate the economy | Bryan Walsh | December 27, 2020 | Axios
Maybe another prodigy’s ideas are being given the time and space to gestate, and who knows what wonders await.
The Year in Physics | Michael Moyer | December 23, 2020 | Quanta Magazine

They gestate in the minds of viewers or listeners or readers.
Constructive Criticism: Reviewing the Idea of Reviewing | Ben Greenman | May 20, 2013 | THE DAILY BEAST
Thus preparing the upper crust of our earth as a "placenta" ready to gestate plant and animal life.
The Brain | Alexander Blade
We're fighting for time—time for Charlie and his gang to crack the puzzle, time for the Grdznth girls to gestate.
PRoblem | Alan Edward Nourse

British Dictionary definitions for gestate

gestate

/ (ˈdʒɛsteɪt) /

verb

(tr) to carry (developing young) in the uterus during pregnancy
(tr) to develop (a plan or idea) in the mind

(intr) to be in the process of gestating

Origin of gestate

C19: back formation from gestation

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

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