imbibe
Americanverb (used with object)
-
to consume (liquids) by drinking; drink.
He imbibed great quantities of iced tea.
- Synonyms:
- swallow
-
to absorb or soak up, as water, light, or heat.
Plants imbibe moisture from the soil.
-
to take or receive into the mind, as knowledge, ideas, or the like.
to imbibe a sermon; to imbibe beautiful scenery.
verb (used without object)
-
to drink, especially alcoholic beverages.
Just a soft drink for me—I don't imbibe.
-
to absorb liquid or moisture.
-
Archaic. to soak or saturate; imbue.
verb
-
to drink (esp alcoholic drinks)
-
literary to take in or assimilate (ideas, facts, etc)
to imbibe the spirit of the Renaissance
-
(tr) to take in as if by drinking
to imbibe fresh air
-
to absorb or cause to absorb liquid or moisture; assimilate or saturate
Related Words
See drink.
Other Word Forms
- imbiber noun
- preimbibe verb (used with object)
- unimbibed adjective
- unimbibing adjective
Etymology
Origin of imbibe
1350–1400; < Latin imbibere to drink in, equivalent to im- im- 1 + bibere to drink; replacing Middle English enbiben < Middle French embiber < Latin, as above
Explanation
Imbibe is a fancy word for "drink." If you need to imbibe ten cups of coffee just to get out of the house, you might have a caffeine problem. Although the verb imbibe means to take in liquids of any sort, if you don't specify the liquid, people are likely to infer you mean an alcoholic beverage. You can also use it figuratively. If you have imbibed every detail about every battle of the U.S. Civil War, you must find the subject interesting.
Vocabulary lists containing imbibe
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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.
Fewer people in the U.S. are drinking alcohol, and when they do imbibe, they drink less than they used to.
From MarketWatch • Dec. 23, 2025
Americans generally are drinking less, because of health concerns as well as the use of GLP-1 weight-loss drugs that can curb the desire to imbibe.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 18, 2025
An extremely light drinker, Yamamoto said that even the magnitude of this victory couldn’t drive him to imbibe any of the adult beverages provided to the players.
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 12, 2024
At the same time as the tech bro’s supervillainy supremacy has emerged, some movies have sought not to lampoon Big Tech but to imbibe some of the digital world’s infinite expanse.
From Seattle Times • Mar. 7, 2023
If only he could imbibe some of that night rest!
From "Typical American" by Gish Jen
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.
