gestate

American  

[jes-tayt] / ˈdʒɛs teɪt /

verb (used with object)

gestated, gestating

1. to carry in the womb during the period from conception to delivery.

2. to think of and develop (an idea, opinion, plan, etc.) slowly in the mind.

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verb (used without object)

gestated, gestating

1. to experience the process of gestating offspring.

2. to develop slowly.

gestate British  

/ ˈdʒɛsteɪt /

verb

1. (tr) to carry (developing young) in the uterus during pregnancy

2. (tr) to develop (a plan or idea) in the mind

3. (intr) to be in the process of gestating

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Etymology

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”

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Explanation

It's unclear just how long it took for the idea for the website to gestate. Did he think of it right away, or did it take months for him to come up with the idea? When something is gestating, it's literally in the womb, developing into whatever it will be when it's finally born. Other things besides living organisms can gestate, however. Frequently, gestate is used to refer to ideas and plans while they're in the development phase. The idea for a new way to market music to a generation of kids who expect it to be free was gestating for years before iTunes was launched. A gestation period is the time it takes for something to be born. Humans, for example, gestate for nine months.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

gestate gestated gestating

As female cicadas lay eggs that gestate for the next 13 or 17 years, it can cause short-term damage to some trees and shrubs.

From New York Times ● Jun. 2, 2024

It's surrogacy, or the practice in which someone with a uterus agrees to gestate and deliver a baby on the behalf of other parents.

From Salon ● Feb. 4, 2024

They will then try to create an embryo carrying that modified DNA that could gestate in an African elephant “surrogate” or an artificial uterus.

From Scientific American ● Aug. 16, 2022

“Even if we got it genetically perfect, we are still going to have to gestate it in a different species, so why would you think it would be exactly the same?”

From Science Magazine ● Mar. 9, 2022

The girls can't gestate in that climate, at least not until they've been there long enough to get their glands adjusted.

From PRoblem by Alan Edward Nourse

Latifi, who gestated the book alongside her firstborn, argues that becoming an influencer is the modern pitch to mothers that they can raise a family without sacrificing their careers.

From Salon ● May 10, 2026

While Johnson had been invited to record closer-to-home before, it took his comfort and confidence in his collaborators to get him to finally cut these songs that gestated over neighborhood walks and late-night guitar-tinkering sessions.

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 22, 2023

“Malignant” first gestated when Wan and Bisu, who are married, started bouncing around an idea of hers while at home with their dogs.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 29, 2021

She experiences profound emotional touchstones, like relinquishing the triplets she gestated for her half brother, but also gets the most granular attributes of the six.

From New York Times ● Sep. 5, 2019

In her womb they were gestated and formed.

From Time and Change by John Burroughs

"The kicker is within two or three days of giving birth, they fall pregnant again so while they're rearing the first litter, they're gestating the second," Henry says.

From BBC ● May 30, 2026

These tools also allow women tasked with gestating children, caring for infants, and doing housework to not be completely consumed by it.

From Slate ● Jan. 20, 2026

But I don’t believe Seattle should proceed with a proposal that’s gestating to create news vouchers, modeled on the city’s $30 million democracy voucher program.

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 10, 2023

Long before the emergence of a winged protagonist who transports powerful orbs across the mysterious landscape of Cocoon, the adventure video game was an abstract computer science exercise gestating in its creator’s head.

From New York Times ● Sep. 28, 2023

One might almost say it was a result rather than a reserve; the result of a something hard at work within; a preoccupying something; a gestating something, the offspring of which was—well—what he was.

From Some Personal Recollections of Dr. Janeway by James Bayard Clark

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