Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
Synonyms

lactate

1 American  
[lak-teyt] / ˈlæk teɪt /

verb (used without object)

lactated, lactating

  1. to produce milk.

lactate 2 American  
[lak-teyt] / ˈlæk teɪt /

noun

Chemistry.

  1. an ester or salt of lactic acid.

lactate 1 British  
/ ˈlækteɪt /

noun

  1. an ester or salt of lactic acid

"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
lactate 2 British  
/ ˈlækteɪt /

verb

  1. (intr) (of mammals) to produce or secrete milk

"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
lactate Scientific  
/ lăk′tāt′ /

  1. A salt or ester of lactic acid. Lactate is a product of fermentation and is produced during cellular respiration as glucose is broken down.

Etymology

Origin of lactate1

1885–90; < Latin lactātus, past participle of lactāre to suckle. See lact-, -ate 1

Origin of lactate2

First recorded in 1785–95; lact(ic acid) + -ate 2

Explanation

To lactate is to produce milk for feeding babies. All female mammals who give birth lactate. A mother cow has to lactate in order to feed her calves, and so that she can be milked by a farmer too. Mothers who nurse their babies lactate, whether they're humans, cats, goats, or skunks. Lactation, "the secretion of milk," came first, from the Late Latin lactationem, "a suckling," from the root lac, "milk."

Keep Reading on Vocabulary.com

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.

Although it was not directly tested in this study, one possible explanation involves lactate, which increases in the bloodstream during intense exercise.

From Science Daily • Feb. 23, 2026

He tailors his training to meet a targeted exertional threshold and monitors his lactate levels with pinprick blood tests.

From The Wall Street Journal • Sep. 11, 2025

The study tracked the heart rate, oxygen uptake and blood lactate levels of professional drummers in rehearsals and during live shows, the outlet said.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 7, 2025

Precisely when in prehistory mammals began to lactate, no one yet knows.

From Slate • Aug. 13, 2024

The only thing to do is to give medicines to meet the indications; fifteen to twenty grain doses of lactate of strontium.

From Mother's Remedies Over One Thousand Tried and Tested Remedies from Mothers of the United States and Canada by Ritter, Thomas Jefferson

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.