ventilate
Americanverb (used with object)
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to provide (a room, mine, etc.) with fresh air in place of air that has been used or contaminated.
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Medicine/Medical.
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to oxygenate (blood) by exposure to air in the lungs or gills.
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to assist the breathing of (a person), as with a respirator.
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(of air or wind) to circulate through or blow on, so as to cool or freshen the air of.
Cool breezes ventilated the house.
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to expose to the action of air or wind.
to ventilate floor timbers.
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to submit (a question, problem, etc.) to open, full examination and discussion.
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to give utterance or expression to (an opinion, complaint, etc.).
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to furnish with a vent or opening, as for the escape of air or gas.
verb (used without object)
verb
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to drive foul air out of (an enclosed area)
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to provide with a means of airing
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to expose (a question, grievance, etc) to public examination or discussion
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physiol to oxygenate (the blood) in the capillaries of the lungs
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to winnow (grain)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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overventilateverb (used with object)
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reventilateverb (used with object)
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underventilateverb (used with object)
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self-ventilatedadjective
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underventilatedadjective
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unventilatedadjective
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ventilableadjective
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well-ventilatedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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ventilatesimple
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ventilatessimple
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have ventilatedperfect
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has ventilatedperfect
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am ventilatingprogressive
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are ventilatingprogressive
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is ventilatingprogressive
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have been ventilatingperfect progressive
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has been ventilatingperfect progressive
Past
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ventilatedsimple
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had ventilatedperfect
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was ventilatingprogressive
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were ventilatingprogressive
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had been ventilatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of ventilate
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English ventilatten “to blow (something) away,” from Latin ventilātus (past participle of ventilāre “to fan”), equivalent to vent(us) “wind” + -il- verb suffix (variant of -ul-, originally after derivatives of nouns ending in -ulus ) + -ātus suffix forming adjectives; see origin at -ule, -ate 1; cf. speculate, wind 1
Explanation
To ventilate is to let something flow freely, whether it's air or ideas. It's especially important to ventilate your art studio if you're using spray paint. When a doctor uses the word ventilate, she's usually talking specifically about air moving through a patient's lungs: "We need to artificially ventilate him until his airway is clear." Otherwise, when we ventilate something, we're almost always trying to get more clean or cool air flowing in and moving around: "You need to ventilate this room better before you set up your screen printing business here." The root of ventilate means "blowing."
Vocabulary lists containing ventilate
My Side of the Mountain
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Stand Up, Yumi Chung!
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Mr. Popper’s Penguins
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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:
The system could eventually help ventilate greenhouses and other buildings without relying on fuel.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 27, 2026
After turning off the burners and opening windows to ventilate the apartment, the team contacted firefighters and stayed with the woman until they arrived.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2025
She says it remains important to ventilate and heat your home alongside using a dehumidifier.
From BBC ● Jan. 15, 2024
Organizers should also find ways to ventilate the event space, including, potentially, by reducing seat capacity.
From Salon ● Nov. 27, 2023
After a couple of years, the Captain raised Dad to section foreman, taught him how to lead men and operate and ventilate a mine, and instilled in him a vision of the town.
From "October Sky" by Homer Hickam
As we followed a trail through waist-high grass, the sun was hot and a ridge blocked the breeze, the steady trade wind that reliably ventilates the Caribbean.
From New York Times ● Oct. 8, 2015
The mastoid portion of the temporal bone, which can be felt as a bump in the skull behind the pinna, also contains air, which ventilates through the middle ear.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2015
Like a healer, he helps us to come to terms with the miseries he ventilates on our behalf.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 17, 2010
And when their various pathologies grow suffocating, the director of photography, Michael Hardwick, ventilates the movie with pure Alaskan light and scrubbed, cerulean skies.
From New York Times ● Mar. 26, 2010
It runs richt into the top o’ the wall and ventilates the prison where the men sleep.
From The Spoilers of the Valley by Watson, Robert
Durga Devi finds no relief after a day working in New Delhi's sweltering summer, because her poorly ventilated home radiates trapped heat, leaving her bedroom as hot as 45 degrees at night.
From Barron's ● Jun. 26, 2026
Three indoor privies were lighted by skylights and ingeniously ventilated by a 150-foot-long lateral tunnel that drew in air and discharged it through adjoining chimneys, providing a continuous draft.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026
Plus, the standard Model Y covers up Tesla’s usual panoramic glass roof with a fabric headliner, and neither model comes with ventilated front seats.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 13, 2025
"There simply are no easy answers and we look forward to all of the complexities being fully ventilated in this module," she said.
From BBC ● Oct. 2, 2025
The extreme heat in my poorly ventilated room woke me in the middle of the night.
From "The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates" by Wes Moore
Fortunately, we can reduce that risk by ventilating buildings and filtering the air we breathe.
From Scientific American ● Dec. 20, 2022
These include “changing guidelines on ventilating patients, the use of high dose steroids in hospitalized patients, and identifying previously unknown or overlooked safety issues with some novel antiviral therapies,” Kheriaty declared.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 17, 2022
But Mr Gallagher said if there is evidence a tenant is not ventilating the home correctly, then the landlord may not be responsible.
From BBC ● Nov. 15, 2022
To reduce methane concentrations, large fans draw air into and through the mine, ventilating the methane into the atmosphere.
From New York Times ● Jun. 14, 2022
“Mister,” he said, “you don’t need no ventilating holes in that there door.”
From "Mr. Popper's Penguins" by Florence Atwater and Richard Atwater
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.
