macerate
Americanverb (used with object)
-
macerates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
macerated,
past participle, past
-
macerating
present participle
-
to soften or separate into parts by steeping in a liquid.
-
to soften or decompose (food) by the action of a solvent.
-
to cause to grow thin.
verb (used without object)
-
macerates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
macerated,
past participle, past
-
macerating
present participle
-
to undergo maceration.
-
to become thin or emaciated; waste away.
verb
-
to soften or separate or be softened or separated as a result of soaking
-
to break up or cause to break up by soaking
macerated peaches
-
to become or cause to become thin
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
maceratesimple
-
maceratessimple
-
have maceratedperfect
-
has maceratedperfect
-
am maceratingprogressive
-
are maceratingprogressive
-
is maceratingprogressive
-
have been maceratingperfect progressive
-
has been maceratingperfect progressive
Past
-
maceratedsimple
-
had maceratedperfect
-
was maceratingprogressive
-
were maceratingprogressive
-
had been maceratingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of macerate
1540–50; < Latin mācerātus (past participle of mācerāre to make soft, weaken, steep); see -ate 1
Explanation
When you macerate something, you soften it by soaking it in a liquid, often while you're cooking or preparing food. To macerate strawberries, all you have to do is sprinkle sugar on them, which draws out their juices so they become soft and sweet and deliciously saucy. Macerate is sometimes also used to mean "cause to grow thin or weak," or in other words, to make someone feel like a soft, squishy strawberry.
Vocabulary lists containing macerate
A Culinary Vocabulary Sampler
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Silent Spring
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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.
See Examples For:
To start, macerate the tomatoes in sugar, cinnamon, lemon juice and cornstarch, then drain the excess juices in a separate bowl.
From Salon ● Jul. 26, 2022
On the extreme end, Gravner and Radikon macerate for many months, depending on the vintage.
From New York Times ● May 7, 2020
Others we macerate, often with vanilla or cardamom, but this week it’s been fennel seeds and lemon.
From The Guardian ● May 31, 2019
“As they open up, we take the blossoms off of the branches and macerate them in spirits” before distilling, Uselton says.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 23, 2018
They macerate and digest the leaves, and aid in mixing the decomposed matter with the surface soil.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
Juice from the white grapes macerates with the skins as with red wines, absorbing tannins and pigment depending on the length of the maceration.
From New York Times ● Jan. 20, 2022
It was labeled “skin contact,” indicated the white was made like a red, in which the grape juice macerates with the pigment-laden skins before and during fermentation.
From New York Times ● Nov. 4, 2021
W. C. Fields, looking worn-&-torn but as noble as Stone Mountain, macerates a boozy song around his cigar butt and puts on his achingly funny pool exhibition with warped cues.
From Time Magazine Archive
A believer who flagellates or "macerates" himself today arouses more wonder and fear than emulation.
From Varieties of Religious Experience, a Study in Human Nature by William James
Poultices are emollient and sedative, but their protracted use, as of all aqueous applications, macerates and weakens the skin, and tends to perpetuate the disease or cause boils.
From Turkish and Other Baths A Guide to Good Health and Longevity by Gordon Stables
She ran in place, holding hands with her stepmother, who kept slipping on the macerated mixture.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 27, 2025
Layer with almond biscotti or ladyfingers, swirl in apricot jam or fresh macerated peaches and finish with a honey drizzle and toasted almonds on top.
From Salon ● Jul. 29, 2025
Sitting in the clubhouse, a still soaked MacIntyre gawped at the TV screen, clattered his macerated hands together in applause, and mouthed "wow" as his dream died.
From BBC ● Jun. 16, 2025
The cookie pizza consists of three things: sugar cookie dough baked in a tart shell, homemade or good-quality store-bought ricotta cheese, and macerated strawberries.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 5, 2022
As she confided in her diary, the breakup of her previous engagement had left her “mangled and torn and castigated and macerated in soul.”
From "The Woman All Spies Fear" by Amy Butler Greenfield
But many growers have recently found that by macerating the juice and the skins of the grapes for shorter periods, they can make fresher, more elegant wines that are vibrant and lively.
From New York Times ● Mar. 21, 2022
The Kōloa team tried macerating coconuts of all ages and varieties.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 22, 2021
Other methods exist, notably vapor infusion, whereby the botanicals, rather than macerating in the alcohol and water, are hung above, in sieves or baskets, through which the steam ascends.
From The New Yorker ● Dec. 2, 2019
“It goes with everything; it’s refreshing, it gets better with a few days macerating time, it’s soft and crunchy, it’s healthy,” Kreuther says.
From Washington Times ● Sep. 16, 2019
In Amboina the natives eat the seeds, the toxic quality of which is removed by brushing and macerating in pure water for a certain time.
From The Medicinal Plants of the Philippines by Jerome Beers Thomas
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.
