tame

[ teym ]

/ teɪm /

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See synonyms for: tame / tamed / tamer / taming on Thesaurus.com

adjective, tam·er, tam·est.

changed from the wild or savage state; domesticated: a tame bear.

without the savageness or fear of humans normal in wild animals; gentle, fearless, or without shyness, as if domesticated: That lion acts as tame as a house cat.

tractable, docile, or submissive, as a person or the disposition.

lacking in excitement; dull; insipid: a very tame party.

spiritless or pusillanimous.

not to be taken very seriously; without real power or importance; serviceable but harmless: They kept a tame scientist around.

brought into service; rendered useful and manageable; under control, as natural resources or a source of power.

cultivated or improved by cultivation, as a plant or its fruit.

verb (used with object), tamed, tam·ing.

to make tame; domesticate; make tractable.

to deprive of courage, ardor, or zest.

to deprive of interest, excitement, or attractiveness; make dull.

to soften; tone down.

to harness or control; render useful, as a source of power.

to cultivate, as land or plants.

verb (used without object), tamed, tam·ing.

to become tame.

OTHER WORDS FOR tame

3 meek, obedient, yielding.

4 flat, vapid, boring, tedious, tiresome, uninteresting.

5 cowardly, dastardly, fainthearted.

9 break, subdue.

12 calm, moderate, mollify.

See synonyms for tame on Thesaurus.com

OPPOSITES FOR tame

1 wild.

See antonyms for tame on Thesaurus.com

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Origin of tame

First recorded before 900; (adjective) Middle English; Old English tam; cognate with Dutch tam, German zahm, Old Norse tamr; (verb) Middle English tamen, derivative of the adjective; replacing Middle English temen “to tame,” Old English temian, derivative of tam; cognate with Old Norse temja, Gothic gatamjan; akin to Latin domāre “to tame”

OTHER WORDS FROM tame

tame·ly, adverbtame·ness, nountam·er, nouno·ver·tame, adjective

o·ver·tame·ly, adverbo·ver·tame·ness, nounun·tame, adjectiveun·tame·ly, adverbun·tame·ness, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use tame in a sentence

Researchers have long hoped they could similarly tame nonlinear problems with clever quantum algorithms.
New Quantum Algorithms Finally Crack Nonlinear Equations|Max G. Levy|January 5, 2021|Quanta Magazine
Health concerns have led some workers, including many senior citizens and immunocompromised Americans, to quit looking for work until the virus is tamed.
By one measure, this recovery is 10 times faster than the one after the Great Recession—but there’s a catch|Lance Lambert|January 5, 2021|Fortune
Emotional brain training works with these high-stress emotions in an effort to tame them, releasing negative emotions as the first of two steps in preventing stress overload.
Boost your mood with emotional brain training|By Laurel Mellin/The Conversation|January 4, 2021|Popular-Science
If any one of these embers are allowed to grow, they could start something that would make California wildfires look tame.
Hey Joe: Welcome to the New World Order|Daniel Malloy|January 3, 2021|Ozy

I am hopeful that a year from now we will look back at 2021 as another year of scientific discovery and achievement, and the year we tamed the virus.
After a year like no other, new challenges and hope|Nancy Shute|December 18, 2020|Science News
What is man before beauty liberates him from free pleasure, and the serenity of form tames down the savageness of life?
The Aesthetical Essays|Friedrich Schiller
There was Red Grimsby, long, and lank and lithe as a Comanche, with a blue eye that tames a horse and man alike.
In to the Yukon|William Seymour Edwards
He even tames the wolf, but without club or chains, by the mere exercise of his gentle meekness.
The Reform of Education|Giovanni Gentile
This unhappy people groan under the tyranny of their governors; yet nothing subdues or tames them.
Henry Martyn Saint and Scholar|George Smith
Some of them have more the manners of merchants than camel-drivers; and the mercantile character always tames men in the desert.
Narrative of a Mission to Central Africa Performed in the Years 1850-51, Volume 1|James Richardson

British Dictionary definitions for tame

tame

/ (teɪm) /

adjective

changed by man from a naturally wild state into a tractable, domesticated, or cultivated condition

(of animals) not fearful of human contact

lacking in spirit or initiative; meek or submissivea tame personality

flat, insipid, or uninspiringa tame ending to a book

slow-movinga tame current

verb (tr)

to make tame; domesticate

to break the spirit of, subdue, or curb

to tone down, soften, or mitigate

Derived forms of tame

tamable or tameable, adjectivetamability, tameability, tamableness or tameableness, nountameless, adjectivetamely, adverb

tameness, nountamer, noun

Word Origin for tame

Old English tam; related to Old Norse tamr, Old High German zam

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

tame

OTHER WORDS FOR tame

OPPOSITES FOR tame

Origin of tame

OTHER WORDS FROM tame

Words related to tame

How to use tame in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for tame

Derived forms of tame

Word Origin for tame