communicate

Syllables: com·mu·ni·cate/kəˈmjuːnɪkeɪt/

communicate verb: to impart or transmit (information or knowledge) to someone; to make known, to tell.

Verb

communicate (third-person singular simple present communicates, present participle communicating, simple past and past participle communicated)

(transitive) To impart or transmit (information or knowledge) to someone; to make known, to tell.
- It is vital that I communicate this information to you.
(transitive) To impart or transmit (an intangible quantity, substance); to give a share of.
- to communicate motion by means of a crank
- Did ye not knovv that I ought to be ib my fathers houſe? that is, there vvhere God is vvorſhipped, vvhere he communicates his bleſſing and holy influences, there and there only vve are ſure to meet our deareſt Lord.1660, Jeremy Taylor, “The Introduction”, in The Worthy Communicant or A Discourse of the Nature, Effects, and Blessings Consequent to the Worthy Receiving of the Lords Supper […], London: […] R....
(transitive) To pass on (a disease) to another person, animal etc.
- The disease was mainly communicated via rats and other vermin.
(obsolete, transitive) To share (in); to have in common, to partake of.
- We shall now consider those functions of intelligence which man communicates with the higher beasts.
- thousands that communicate our loss1603 (first performance), Ben[jamin] Jonson, Seianus His Fall, London: […] G[eorge] Elld, for Thomas Thorpe, published 1605, →OCLC, (please specify the page)
(intransitive) To receive the bread and wine at a celebration of the Eucharist; to take part in Holy Communion.
- It seems that now [the Devil] was driving Alison hard. She had been remiss of late—fewer souls sent to hell, less zeal in quenching the Spirit, and, above all, the crowning offense that her bairn had communicated in Christ's kirk.1899 January – 1902 January, John Buchan, “The Watcher by the Threshold”, in The Watcher by the Threshold, and Other Tales, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, published 1902, →OCLC, page...
- The ‘better sort’ might communicate on a separate day; and in some parishes even the quality of the communion wine varied with the social quality of the recipients.1971, Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, Folio Society, published 2012, page 148
(transitive) To administer the Holy Communion to (someone).
- [W]hen ſhe [the church] can underſtand that ſuch an emendation is made, and the man is really reformed, ſhe can pronounce him pardon'd, or vvhich is all one, ſhe may communicate him.1660, Jeremy Taylor, “Of Repentance Preparatory to the Blessed Sacrament. Sect[ion] V. What Significations of Repentance are to be Accepted by the Church in Admission of Penitents to the Communion.”...
(intransitive) To express or convey ideas, either through verbal or nonverbal means; to have intercourse, to exchange information.
- Many deaf people communicate with sign language.
- I feel I hardly know him; I just wish he'd communicate with me a little more.
(intransitive) To be connected by means of an opening or channel [with with ‘another room, vessel etc.’].
- The living room communicates with the back garden by these French windows.
- There was a door in the kitchen, communicating with the forge; […]1860 December – 1861 August, Charles Dickens, chapter II, in Great Expectations […], volume I, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published October 1861, →OCLC, page 29

Adjective

communicate (comparative more communicate, superlative most communicate)

(obsolete) Communicated, (made) commune, joined.
- The property of the manhood is communicate with the other nature.1561, T. Norton, translation of J. Calvin, Institution of Christian Religion (1634), volume ii. xiv., page 226
- Art..gives a natural scope, and lasting experience, to Genius. Artists are men of a communicate genius.1893, W. Allingham, Varieties in Prose, volume III., page 260

communicate meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

communicate in Tamil

அறிவி, செய்தித்தொடர்புகொள், செய்தியறிவி, தெரிவி, தொடர்பு கொள், கருத்துப் பரிமாறு

communicate in Urdu

آگاہ کرنا, عطا کرنا, بخشنا, اطلاع دینا, جتانا, کہنا

More languagesFewer languages

communicate in Bengali: সংক্রমিত করা, সংবাদ প্রদান করা, সংলগ্ন থাকা, খবর করা
communicate in Malayalam: സംസാരിക്കുക saṁsārikkuka, പറയുക paṟayuka
communicate in Kannada: ತಿಳಿಸು, ಹೇಳು, ಸೊಲ್ಲುಗೊಡು, ಸೊಲ್ಲುದೋರು
communicate in Punjabi: ਸੰਚਾਰ ਕਰੋ
communicate in Gujarati: સંદેશાવ્યવહાર કરો, સંચાર કરો
communicate in Sanskrit: ददाति dádāti
communicate in Nepali: सञ्चार गर्नुहोस्, संवाद गर्नुहोस्, संचार गर्नुहोस्
communicate in Arabic: تَفَاهَمَ tafāhama
communicate in Malay: berkomunikasi
communicate in Thai: สื่อสาร sʉ̀ʉ-sǎan
communicate in Vietnamese: liên lạc

Examples of communicate in a sentence

The service writers collaborate with the techs and communicate with the customers.
When attempting to settle a lawsuit, the parties generally communicate on a "without prejudice" basis.
His younger brother was born dumb, and communicated with sign language.

All 40 example sentences with communicate

Synonyms of communicate

All synonyms of communicate

Forms of communicate

Verb
third-person singular present	communicates
present participle	communicating
past participle	communicated
past	communicated
second-person singular present (archaic)	communicatest
second-person singular past (archaic)	communicatedst
third-person singular present (archaic)	communicateth
Adjective
comparative	more communicate
superlative	most communicate

Past tense of communicate: communicated

Origin of communicate

Adapted borrowing of Latin commūnicāt- (past participial stem of commūnicō (“share, impart; make common”)) + -ate (verb-forming suffix), from commūnis (“common”) + -icō. Compare French communiquer and its older (and now obsolete) English cognate from Middle French, communique.

From Middle English communicate, an adapted borrowing of Latin commūnicātus (see -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), perfect passive participle of commūnicō (“to make commune”).

Words formed from communicate

Questions about communicate

What does communicate mean?: Communicate means to impart or transmit (information or knowledge) to someone; to make known, to tell.
What is communicate in Hindi?: Communicate in Hindi is संवाद करें, संचार करें. See Communicate meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is communicate?: Communicate can be a verb or an adjective.
How do you pronounce communicate?: Communicate is pronounced /kəˈmjuːnɪkeɪt/.
What is the past tense of communicate?: The past tense of communicate is communicated.

Words near communicate in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: communicate (page history and authors); communicate (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); communicate (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); communicate (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); communicate (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); communicate (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); പറയുക (Malayalam) (page history and authors); communicate (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); communicate (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); communicate (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ददाति (Sanskrit) (page history and authors); communicate (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-communicate.ogg.

Cite this entry: “communicate.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/communicate. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.