pulsate
Americanverb (used without object)
-
pulsates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
pulsated,
past participle, past
-
pulsating
present participle
-
to expand and contract rhythmically, as the heart; beat; throb.
- Synonyms:
- pulse
-
to vibrate; quiver.
verb
-
to expand and contract with a rhythmic beat; throb
-
physics to vary in intensity, magnitude, size, etc
the current was pulsating
-
to quiver or vibrate
Synonym Usage
Pulsate, beat, palpitate, throb refer to the recurrent vibratory movement of the heart, the pulse, etc. To pulsate is to move in a definite rhythm, temporarily or for a longer duration: Blood pulsates in the arteries. To beat is to repeat a vibration or pulsation regularly for some time: One's heart beats many times a minute. To palpitate is to beat at a rapid rate, often producing a flutter: to palpitate with excitement. To throb is to beat with an unusual force that is often associated with pain or heightened emotion or sensation: to throb with terror.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
pulsatesimple
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pulsatessimple
-
have pulsatedperfect
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has pulsatedperfect
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am pulsatingprogressive
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are pulsatingprogressive
-
is pulsatingprogressive
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have been pulsatingperfect progressive
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has been pulsatingperfect progressive
Past
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pulsatedsimple
-
had pulsatedperfect
-
was pulsatingprogressive
-
were pulsatingprogressive
-
had been pulsatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of pulsate
1785–95; < Latin pulsātus, past participle of pulsāre to batter, strike, make (strings) vibrate. See pulse 1, -ate 1
Explanation
Things that pulsate throb with a regular, rhythmic beat — like the piped-in music at a trendy discotheque. Music can pulsate, electromagnetic waves can pulsate, and your head can pulsate when you have a splitting headache. When someone takes your pulse by placing fingers on the inside of your wrist or on your neck, they're counting your heartbeats by feeling the blood pulsate through your arteries.
Vocabulary lists containing pulsate
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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:
When a lower-mass star reaches the point where nuclear reactions in its core can no longer support it, the star becomes unstable and begins to pulsate.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 12, 2026
This makes the booster appear to slowly pulsate; it gets brighter and dimmer on a regular cycle as it tumbles.
From Scientific American ● Sep. 15, 2023
Solar flares come from sunspots, or bruiselike discolorations on the surface of the sun that pulsate with energy.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 12, 2023
It’s easy to get swept away in the enchanting and immersive images, sounds and songs of “Neptune Frost,” to simply ride the waves of vibes that pulsate and radiate from the film’s core.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 9, 2022
Cepheid stars pulsate, getting brighter and dimmer in a very predictable way; the way they pulsate is closely related to how much light they put out.
From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife
If the joy of running is missing from Ms. Cain’s book, it pulsates through Martin Dugard’s “The Long Run.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 24, 2026
But in fellow Brit Steve McQueen’s muscular, sincere “Blitz,” his latest reckoning with the heartbeat of historical incident, life under the threat of annihilation pulsates a little more strongly than that beloved phrase would suggest.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 31, 2024
As a gentle breeze rustled the oaks and chaparral, Hughes said she felt the sanctity of Oak Flat in every breath: “That spiritual divine breath. It’s just here. It pulsates here.”
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 28, 2023
But the intoxicating strength of the show’s leading lady still pulsates throughout — even when, as is often the case with this concert stagings, Murphy had her book in hand for the dramatic scenes.
From New York Times ● Mar. 16, 2023
A sentence Etienne once read aloud returns: Even the heart, which in higher animals, when agitated, pulsates with increased energy, in the snail under similar excitement, throbs with a slower motion.
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
The arteries of the capital and other major cities pulsated with people.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 8, 2026
During the climactic moment, a giant load-in door in the upstage wall slowly rose like a curtain onto West 45th Street, which pulsated with color and life.
From New York Times ● Dec. 4, 2023
His ballads on Canadian themes, including “Canadian Railroad Trilogy,” pulsated with a love for the nation’s rivers and forests, which he explored on ambitious canoe trips far into the hinterlands.
From Seattle Times ● May 5, 2023
As music pulsated and his teammates, past and present, gathered at midcourt for tipoff, the former Laker sixth man and current Clipper starting point guard remained still, the only motionless person inside a sold-out arena.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 6, 2023
Despite the dim light in the cott — it was night-start by then — the golds and reds pulsated as if the morning sun itself had slid and twisted its rays into the cloth.
From "Gathering Blue" by Lois Lowry
As the ceremony continued, a DJ on a nearby stage cranked up the volume, and the pulsating music made it harder to hear.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
In a pulsating contest albeit without Messi, the South Americans took the lead twice before Michael Owen struck two dramatic late goals to earn Sven-Goran Eriksson's England a 3-2 victory.
From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2026
Vecna’s form is charred and the vines that compose his body can be seen pulsating like they are alive.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 1, 2026
The result, after four years of development, hit theaters last summer as an Apple and Jerry Bruckheimer-produced, 2½-hour feature—called, appropriately enough, “F1”—that married the pulsating action of “Top Gun” with the real-life universe of F1.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 29, 2026
The sound swelled in the dark till the entire room was pulsating, till the air itself became alive and matted with bees.
From "The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd
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.
