impregnate
Americanverb (used with object)
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impregnates,
present (3rd person singular)
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impregnated,
past participle, past
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impregnating
present participle
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to make pregnant; cause to be with child or young.
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to fertilize.
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to cause to be permeated or saturated with a substance.
To relieve cold and flu symptoms, impregnate a handkerchief with oils of eucalyptus and mint and inhale its scent.
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to fill the interstices, openings, or cells of (a fine network, or the like) with a substance.
The stainless steel housing contains a ceramic honeycomb impregnated with platinum, rhodium, and palladium.
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to infuse or imbue with some quality or element.
Picasso’s later paintings are impregnated with a certain melancholy.
The air was pleasantly impregnated with the odor of pines.
adjective
verb
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to saturate, soak, or infuse
to impregnate a cloth with detergent
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to imbue or permeate; pervade
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to cause to conceive; make pregnant
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to fertilize (an ovum)
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to make (land, soil, etc) fruitful
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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impregnationnoun
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impregnatornoun
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reimpregnationnoun
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self-impregnationnoun
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self-impregnatornoun
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reimpregnateverb (used with object)
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impregnatoryadjective
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self-impregnatingadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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impregnatesimple
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impregnatessimple
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have impregnatedperfect
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has impregnatedperfect
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am impregnatingprogressive
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are impregnatingprogressive
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is impregnatingprogressive
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have been impregnatingperfect progressive
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has been impregnatingperfect progressive
Past
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impregnatedsimple
-
had impregnatedperfect
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was impregnatingprogressive
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were impregnatingprogressive
-
had been impregnatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of impregnate
First recorded in 1535–45; from Late Latin impraegnātus, past participle of impraegnāre “to fertilize, impregnate,” equivalent to im- im- 1 ( def. ) + praegn-, stem of praegnās, variant of praegnāns (stem praegnant-) “pregnant, with child” + -ātus past participle suffix; see origin at pregnant 1 ( def. ), -ate 1 ( def. )
Explanation
Use the verb impregnate to describe what happens when a male of any animal species makes a female pregnant. Human fathers impregnate mothers — otherwise, they would not become fathers. When dog breeders mate two German shepherds, they hope that the male will impregnate the female, or make her pregnant. When your cat has kittens, it's because the neighbor's cat impregnated her several months earlier. The Latin root, impraegnare, comes from in, "into," and praegnare, "pregnant."
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:
Male jewel beetles, having evolved to respond to the exciting sight, are known to mistake orange peels for potential mates and die in a fruitless attempt to impregnate them.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 25, 2026
When the cow reached maturity, the team unsuccessfully attempted to impregnate her using standard artificial insemination techniques.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 13, 2024
However, four weeks after the male mice stopped receiving YCT529, they were able to impregnate the female mice again.
From Salon ● Feb. 17, 2023
Female sea horses utilize a protruding egg duct to essentially impregnate the male sea horse with her eggs, which he fertilizes and eventually births.
From New York Times ● Jan. 10, 2023
He ran tape through the charger to impregnate electronic setting that would guide the ship on its course to Crystal City.
From Master of the Moondog by Stanley Mullen
Some of the plot elements are similar: In Raising Gazorpazorp, Morty grapples with becoming a single father after he accidentally impregnates an alien robot.
From Time ● Jul. 27, 2017
This forced feeding thoroughly impregnates the cotton in the fuel chamber of the lighter, minimizes evaporation, and yet permits Lyterlife to feed into the wick as readily as a liquid.
From Time Magazine Archive
When eaten, the cysts are destroyed by the digestive juices, and in two or three days the adult worm develops; the male impregnates the female and then dies.
From Time Magazine Archive
As we know, man is in externals, for example sees with the eye, hears with the ear, tastes with the tongue, feels with the skin, breathes with the lungs, impregnates a wife, and so on.
From Angelic Wisdom about Divine Providence by William F. Wunsch
That the Serpent Arum should elaborate a powerful essence which impregnates the atmosphere and makes it noisome is perfectly simple and comprehensible.
From Social Life in the Insect World by Bernard Miall
“The inmate Carroll impregnated is not one of the two victims in this case,” Assistant District Attorney Eric DuTemple said in an email this week.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
So in January 2022, when veterinary scans showed 25% of his impregnated ewes were no longer carrying lambs, he began to investigate.
From BBC ● May 10, 2025
While the cow is milking, she is impregnated.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 10, 2024
The maggots arrived at her doctor’s office impregnated in a gauze pad.
From Slate ● Feb. 25, 2024
“The sword can destroy Horcruxes! Goblin-made blades imbibe only that which strengthen them—Harry, that sword’s impregnated with basilisk venom!”
From "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling
TMZ previously reported that Pacino had also been shocked by the pregnancy, given an apparent medical condition that he thought prevented him from impregnating another person.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 15, 2023
Writing in a paper in 1772, the scientist Joseph Priestly described the process as "impregnating water with fixed air".
From Salon ● Sep. 1, 2022
“They go against an innocent creature, and why not against the person who impregnated her? Where is that person? He’s going to continue impregnating girls.”
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 7, 2022
Extant, which premieres Wednesday night, tosses sci-fi films from 2001 to A.I. to Sunshine in a blender, and serves up a psychologically minded speculative smoothie, complete with impregnating aliens, emotional robots, and vast conspiracies.
From Slate ● Jul. 9, 2014
The most imperceptible secrets of Nature communed in the uttermost hidden depths of his being, impregnating his mind so violently that these eternal truths were on the point of escaping from his lips.
From The Life of Mohammad The Prophet of Allah by Etienne Dinet
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