Word.ws English Dictionary

constipate

/ˈkɒnstɪˌpeɪt/

constipate verb: to cause constipation in, render costive.

Verb

constipate (third-person singular simple present constipates, present participle constipating, simple past and past participle constipated)

  1. (ambitransitive) To cause constipation in, render costive.
    • The medication can constipate you if you’re not drinking enough water.
    • The long hours of travel seemed to constipate his digestion.
  2. (obsolete) To constrict, contract (tissues, the body, fibres, etc.); to make firm and compact by pressing together.
  3. (obsolete) To pack or crowd together.

Adjective

constipate (comparative more constipate, superlative most constipate)

  1. (obsolete) Constipated, costive.
    • By […] much Sweating, the Bowels were heated, and dry'd, and rendred Constipate.1697, Robert Peirce, Bath Memoirs, or Observations in three-and-forty years, II. i. 255

constipate meaning in Bengali and Malayalam

constipate in Bengali

কোষ্ঠকাঠিন্য হওয়া, আটকে যাওয়া

constipate in Malayalam

മലബന്ധമുണ്ടാക്കുക, തടസ്സം വരുത്തുക, നിയന്ത്രിക്കുക

Forms of constipate

Verb
third-person singular presentconstipates
present participleconstipating
past participleconstipated
pastconstipated
Adjective
comparativemore constipate
superlativemost constipate

Origin of constipate

The adjective is first attested circa 1425, in Middle English, the verb in 1541; inherited from Middle English constipat(e) (“constipated”), borrowed Medieval Latin cōnstīpātus (“constipated”) (or through its Old French equivalent constipé), perfect passive participle of Medieval Latin cōnstīpō (“to cause constipation, to constipate”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from Classical Latin cōnstīpō (“to crowd or press tightly together”) (whence obsoleted sense 2 and 3), itself from con- + stīpō (“to press, cram”). Cognate with Middle English constipen (“to constipate”) and doublet of costive; related to stiff.

Words formed from constipate

Questions about constipate

What does constipate mean?
Constipate means to cause constipation in, render costive.
What is constipate in Bengali?
Constipate in Bengali is কোষ্ঠকাঠিন্য হওয়া, আটকে যাওয়া. See Constipate meaning in Bengali.
What part of speech is constipate?
Constipate can be a verb or an adjective.
How do you pronounce constipate?
Constipate is pronounced /ˈkɒnstɪˌpeɪt/.
What is the past tense of constipate?
The past tense of constipate is constipated.

Words near constipate in the dictionary

  1. consternation
  2. consternations
  3. consters
  4. constictic acid
  5. constimulatory
  6. constipate
  7. constipated
  8. constipatedly
  9. constipates
  10. constipating
  11. constipation

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: constipate (page history and authors); constipate (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); constipate (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors). 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:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-constipate.wav.

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