octavate

/ˈɒktəveɪt/

octavate verb: to resonate or sound one octave higher or lower.

Verb

octavate (third-person singular simple present octavates, present participle octavating, simple past and past participle octavated)

(intransitive) To resonate or sound one octave higher or lower.
- The string, originally divided, will continue for some time to “octavate”.1922, Diran Alexanian [aut.] and Frederick Fairbanks [tr.], Complete Cello Technique (2003 repub.), page 105
- Adolphe Sax, when he invented the saxophone, had at first only in mind the object of improving the clarinet by permitting it to ‘octavate.’1947, Ernest Closson, translated by Delano Ames, History of the Piano, page 64
(intransitive) To span (at least) one octave in playing a musical instrument.
- Ability to ornament, octavate, play chords and do some improvising.1984, VdGSA News, XXI-XXIV, page 39
- He varies and octavates, leaving Bach listeners thunderstruck.2004, Deutschland, page 23
(rare, transitive) To double the pitch of (a part of itself).
- A 12-string doubles the octaves of only the lower four strings…. A doubled, capoed guitar “octavates up” the top two strings.1999, Jon Chappell, The Recording Guitarist, page 133
(rare) To convert (the expression of a number) from denary to octal notation.
- To octavate the number one hundred the reasoning is as follows. The square of eight goes into one hundred once with remainder thirty-six. This remainder contains eight to the first power four times with remainder four. Hence to express one hundred to the base 8 we write the digits 144 which in...1949, The American Mathematical Monthly, LVI, page 463

octavate (plural octavates)

(rare) octave (transfiguratively)
- There is an octavate of odours as well as octavates of notes in music. Like the keys of instruments, certain odours coincide or blend.2000, Supriya Kumar Bhattacharjee, Handbook of Aromatic Plants, page 18

2007, Michael Gallant, “OCTAVATE!: Spread your hands to create powerful sounds.” in Keyboard XXXIII–XXXIV, page unknown
‘Octavate’ (i.e. overblow at the octave.1948, The Galpin Society Journal, I-IV, page 69:
To octavate the number one hundred the reasoning is as follows.1949, The American Mathematical Monthly, LVI, page 463:

Verb
third-person singular present	octavates
present participle	octavating
past participle	octavated
past	octavated
Noun
plural	octavates

First attested in 1922; formed as octav(e) + -ate (verb-forming suffix), in the musical sense after the French octavier.

First attested in the 2000, from octave + -ate (noun-forming suffix).

What does octavate mean?: Octavate means to resonate or sound one octave higher or lower.
How do you use octavate in a sentence?: 2007, Michael Gallant, “OCTAVATE!: Spread your hands to create powerful sounds.” in Keyboard XXXIII–XXXIV, page unknown
What part of speech is octavate?: Octavate can be a verb or a noun.
How do you pronounce octavate?: Octavate is pronounced /ˈɒktəveɪt/.
What is the past tense of octavate?: The past tense of octavate is octavated.

Adapted from Wiktionary: octavate (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: 2026-09-02

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