manducate
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of manducate
1615–25; < Latin mandūcātus, past participle of mandūcāre to chew, eat, derivative of mandūcus glutton; see -ate 1
Explanation
When you manducate carrots, you chew them. Your stiff, formal grandmother might instruct you to manducate your food more slowly. Use the verb manducate when you need a formal word for eating. Horses manducate mouthfuls of hay and little kids who are new to trick-or-treating might want to manducate each piece of candy as it's dropped in their treat bag on Halloween. While chew is a far more common word than manducate, even masticate is used more often. Manducate is rooted in the Latin manducat-, "chewed," from mandere, "to chew."
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.
Be not these the words of Christ, 'Accipite, manducate?'
From Notes and Queries, Number 187, May 28, 1853 A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc. by Bell, George
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.
