marinate

[mar-uh-neyt]

verb (used with object)

marinated, marinating 

1. to steep (food) in a marinade.

marinate

/ ˈmærɪˌneɪt /

verb

1. to soak in marinade

Other Word Forms

• marination noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of marinate¹

1635–45; probably < Italian marinato, past participle of marinare to pickle. See marine, -ate ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of marinate¹

C17: probably from Italian marinato, from marinare to pickle, ultimately from Latin marīnus _marine

Example Sentences

Every origin story marinates in wishful thinking that haunts us to the end of our days.

From Salon

I let the thought marinate for a few days, or I’ll write it down in my notes.

From Los Angeles Times

There was the chicken breast I marinated in lemon juice, rice vinegar and balsamic reduction — a trio I would now classify, gently, as a vinaigrette bloodbath.

From Salon

It takes a little over an hour for “Nobu” to marinate long enough to approach a point of complexity, not exactly bitter but no longer cloyingly sweet.

From Los Angeles Times

This is what art gives us that didactic political proclamations on Bluesky cannot: freedom to play, experiment and marinate in the gray spaces where most of life happens.

From Salon

Related Words

• bathe 
• brine 
• immerse 
• pickle 
• steep