Word.ws English Dictionary

crepitate

crepitate verb: to crackle, as crepitant lungs do, as some arthritic joints may do, or as some fractured bones may do.

Verb

crepitate (third-person singular simple present crepitates, present participle crepitating, simple past and past participle crepitated)

  1. to crackle, as crepitant lungs do, as some arthritic joints may do, or as some fractured bones may do.
  2. (obsolete, possibly) to flatulate.

Forms of crepitate

third-person singular presentcrepitates
present participlecrepitating
past participlecrepitated
pastcrepitated

Origin of crepitate

First attested in 1623; borrowed from Latin crepitātus, perfect passive participle of crepitō (“to creak, rattle, clatter, crackle”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), itself a frequentative of crepō (“to creak, rattle, etc., burst or break with a noise, crash”).

Words formed from crepitate

Questions about crepitate

What does crepitate mean?
Crepitate means to crackle, as crepitant lungs do, as some arthritic joints may do, or as some fractured bones may do.
What part of speech is crepitate?
Crepitate is a verb.
What is the past tense of crepitate?
The past tense of crepitate is crepitated.

Words near crepitate in the dictionary

  1. crepis
  2. crepitaculum
  3. crepital
  4. crepitance
  5. crepitant
  6. crepitate
  7. crepitated
  8. crepitates
  9. crepitating
  10. crepitation
  11. crepitations

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: crepitate (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.

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