Word.ws English Dictionary

masticate

/ˈmæstɪkeɪt/

masticate verb: to chew (usually food).

Verb

masticate (third-person singular simple present masticates, present participle masticating, simple past and past participle masticated)

  1. (transitive) To chew (usually food).
    • The cow stood, quietly masticating its cud.
    • The fat boy rose, opened his eyes, swallowed the huge piece of pie he had been in the act of masticating when he last fell asleep, and slowly obeyed his master’s orders.1832, Charles Dickens, chapter 4, in The Pickwick Papers
  2. (transitive) To grind or knead something into a pulp.

masticate meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Malayalam and Kannada

masticate in Tamil

வாயால் மென்று, அரை, மெல்லு, குதட்டு, சவட்டு, அழுத்திப் பிசைந்து சக்கையாக்கு

masticate in Urdu

چبانا

masticate in Malayalam

ചവയ്ക്കുക, പല്ലുകൊണ്ടരയ്ക്കുക, ചവച്ചരയ്ക്കുക

masticate in Kannada

ನಮಲು, ಅಗಿ, ಜಗಿ
More languagesFewer languages
masticate in Punjabi
ਚਬਾਉਣਾ cabāuṇā

Examples of masticate in a sentence

  • "I had no idea of it," he said, and masticated.1896, H. G. Wells, chapter 8, in The Island of Dr. Moreau:
  • The vegetables were not to be cooked but merely grated fine, if I could not masticate them.1927-1929, Mahatma Gandhi, translated by Mahadev Desai, An Autobiography or The Story of my Experiments with Truth, published 1940:
  • In I&T, their opposite numbers began beating each other to death with keyboards, chairs, and even computer monitors while their Chief masticated her husband's digits.2024 September 28, Harry Blank, “Not Ready for Prime Time”, in Deadlined, →ISBN, archived from the original on 03 Apr 2025, page 604:

Forms of masticate

third-person singular presentmasticates
present participlemasticating
past participlemasticated
pastmasticated

Origin of masticate

From Latin masticātus, perfect passive participle of masticō (“to chew”), see -ate (verb-forming suffix). Alternatively, back-formation from mastication, either ultimately from Ancient Greek μαστιχάω (mastikháō, “to grind the teeth”). Compare French mastiquer.

Words formed from masticate

Questions about masticate

What does masticate mean?
Masticate means to chew (usually food).
What is masticate in Tamil?
Masticate in Tamil is வாயால் மென்று, அரை, மெல்லு. See Masticate meaning in Tamil.
How do you use masticate in a sentence?
"I had no idea of it," he said, and masticated.
What part of speech is masticate?
Masticate is a verb.
How do you pronounce masticate?
Masticate is pronounced /ˈmæstɪkeɪt/.
What is the past tense of masticate?
The past tense of masticate is masticated.

Words near masticate in the dictionary

  1. masthouses
  2. mastic
  3. Mastic Beach
  4. masticability
  5. masticable
  6. masticate
  7. masticated
  8. masticater
  9. masticaters
  10. masticates
  11. masticating

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: masticate (page history and authors); masticate (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); masticate (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); masticate (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); masticate (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਚਬਾਉਣਾ (Punjabi) (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: en-us-masticate.ogg, en-au-masticate.ogg.

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