marinate
Americanverb (used with object)
-
marinates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
marinated,
past participle, past
-
marinating
present participle
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
marinatesimple
-
marinatessimple
-
have marinatedperfect
-
has marinatedperfect
-
am marinatingprogressive
-
are marinatingprogressive
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is marinatingprogressive
-
have been marinatingperfect progressive
-
has been marinatingperfect progressive
Past
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marinatedsimple
-
had marinatedperfect
-
was marinatingprogressive
-
were marinatingprogressive
-
had been marinatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of marinate
1635–45; probably < Italian marinato, past participle of marinare to pickle. See marine, -ate 1
Explanation
When you marinate food, you let it sit in a flavorful liquid before cooking it. You might marinate fish in soy sauce before putting it on the grill. The liquid used to marinate meat, fish, or vegetables is called a "marinade," and it usually includes some acidic ingredient like lemon juice or vinegar that helps the flavors penetrate the food. When you marinate chicken or tofu or beef, it becomes more moist and delicious after you cook it. The French root, mariner, means "to pickle in sea brine."
Vocabulary lists containing marinate
A Culinary Vocabulary Sampler
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Everything, Everything
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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:
No, I will take full accountability and marinate in my stupidity.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 11, 2026
For at least one more year, the Sparks have to marinate in their past mistakes and hope that their veterans can somehow lay a foundation for their future..
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 15, 2026
"Sometimes a song needs to marinate for a year, six months, it can take some time," she says.
From BBC ● Sep. 27, 2025
I will typically use it to marinate flank steak, but recently I used it with my grilled chicken and stone fruit chutney, and it reminded me how this sauce really does go with everything.
From Seattle Times ● May 21, 2024
I was so good at denying myself this, the simple pleasure of even a secret crush, that the thoughts were never allowed to marinate in my mind.
From "A Very Large Expanse of Sea" by Tahereh Mafi
Every origin story marinates in wishful thinking that haunts us to the end of our days.
From Salon ● Aug. 21, 2025
He steps away to rest his tired back as the sickening result marinates.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 24, 2023
Prime marinates the chicken in allspice and habanero before smoking the wings over pimento wood and grilling them to order.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 12, 2019
Thomas Kail compared Mr. Rockwell to a jazz musician, who only makes surprising riffs after “he takes every scene and examines it and scrutinizes it and marinates in it.”
From New York Times ● Apr. 1, 2019
Now behold water-spouts vomiting as they rush over the pavements, and rubbish marinates in puddles that fill the holes scooped out of the macadam.
From Against the Grain by J.-K. (Joris-Karl) Huysmans
The app has boosted lesser-known businesses and sent tourists in droves to unconventional locations such as Zibo, a quiet industrial city in Shandong, after its cheap, marinated barbecue skewers went viral.
From Barron's ● Jul. 13, 2026
This is also where marinated beans diverge from bean salad, at least in my personal taxonomy.
From Salon ● Jun. 16, 2026
It’s billed as different from “your average rib sandwich,” with ribs that have been hand-deboned, marinated in a proprietary barbecue-sauce blend with apple-cider vinegar, then slow-cooked for nine hours.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 29, 2026
After securing our marinated tofu nachos and poke bowl, my wife and I sat down among other guests.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 10, 2026
He just showed up one Sunday with the stuff to make his special Korean ribs, which had to be marinated for three days—so I knew he was planning to stick around.
From "Everything Sad Is Untrue" by Daniel Nayeri
This isn’t Tom Brady marinating on an Eames chair for six weeks before deciding to give football another go.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 30, 2026
Many people are numb or marinating in indignation and anger.
From Barron's ● Apr. 15, 2026
We’ve spent the past couple decades marinating in cooking shows, food podcasts, restaurant documentaries, TikTok pantry tours — an endless syllabus of how things ought to look and taste.
From Salon ● Dec. 2, 2025
We’re marinating on some ideas to cook something up for them.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 7, 2023
The ground beef was marinating in so much lard it looked as if it were encased in Jell-O.
From "Shelter (Book One): A Mickey Bolitar Novel" by Harlan Coben
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.
