impregnate
Americanverb (used with object)
-
impregnates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
impregnated,
past participle, past
-
impregnating
present participle
-
to make pregnant; cause to be with child or young.
-
to fertilize.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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
-
to saturate, soak, or infuse
to impregnate a cloth with detergent
-
to imbue or permeate; pervade
-
to cause to conceive; make pregnant
-
to fertilize (an ovum)
-
to make (land, soil, etc) fruitful
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
-
impregnationnoun
-
impregnatornoun
-
reimpregnationnoun
-
self-impregnationnoun
-
self-impregnatornoun
-
reimpregnateverb (used with object)
-
impregnatoryadjective
-
self-impregnatingadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
impregnatesimple
-
impregnatessimple
-
have impregnatedperfect
-
has impregnatedperfect
-
am impregnatingprogressive
-
are impregnatingprogressive
-
is impregnatingprogressive
-
have been impregnatingperfect progressive
-
has been impregnatingperfect progressive
Past
-
impregnatedsimple
-
had impregnatedperfect
-
was impregnatingprogressive
-
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
In 2022, a federal court jury in Vermont awarded a woman $5.25 million from a doctor who used his own sperm to impregnate her during an artificial insemination procedure in 1977.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 13, 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
In many cases the spermatozoa of one species will not impregnate the eggs of another species.
From The Biological Problem of To-day Preformation Or Epigenesis? The Basis of a Theory of Organic Development by Oscar Hertwig
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
"And so this person, whose vile scent impregnates this, has had my soul laid bare before her for her amusement!"
From Cleo The Magnificent Or, the Muse of the Real by Louis Zangwill
In our day, this provincialism, which impregnates all our culture, is liable to have disastrous consequences politically, as well as for the civilization of mankind.
From The Problem of China by Bertrand Russell
“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
Bobby Moynihan popped in as the 70-something “Drunk Uncle” who impregnated her and begins to sob as he sings Cher’s “If I Could Turn Back Time.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 17, 2025
The maggots arrived at her doctor’s office impregnated in a gauze pad.
From Slate ● Feb. 25, 2024
When these bedbugs were experimentally placed in cloth impregnated with DDT, they lived for as long as a month; they proceeded to lay their eggs; and the resulting young grew and thrived.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
In an Instagram preview to the interview that was posted this week, Tasha K’s edited caption read, “We never accused him of impregnating another woman.. it was only cheating‼️”
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 27, 2023
Before Russia launched its full-scale invasion, BioTexCom was impregnating about 50 women per month.
From New York Times ● Oct. 16, 2022
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
"I am thy father; by me are begotten all thy members as divine; I have formed thy shape like the Mendesian god; I have begotten thee, impregnating thy venerable mother."
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.
