participate

UK/pɑːˈtɪs.ɪ.peɪt//pɑɹˈtɪs.əˌpeɪt/

participate verb: to join in, to take part, to involve oneself (in something).

Verb

participate (third-person singular simple present participates, present participle participating, simple past and past participle participated)

(intransitive) To join in, to take part, to involve oneself (in something).
- For the second year, foreign amateur runners were allowed to participate in a 10-kilometer race, a half-marathon or a full marathon in Pyongyang, the capital. The races were a part of the April 15 birthday celebration of Kim Il-sung, the former leader of North Korea and father of his successors...2015 April 16, Jeré Longman, “At Marathon in North Korea, Curiosity Goes a Long Way”, in The New York Times
(obsolete, transitive) To share, to take part in (something).
- A spirit I am indeed;
  But am in that dimension grossly clad
  Which from the womb I did participate.c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
- [The Persees] are tollerated all sorts of meat; but (in obedience to the Mahomitan and Bannyan ’mongst whom they live) refraine Beefe and Hog flesh: they seldome feed together, lest they might participate one anothers impurity: each has his owne cup […].1638, Thomas Herbert, Some Yeares Travels Into Africa & Asia the Great, London: Jacob Blome and Richard Bishop, Book I, p. 52
(obsolete) To share (something) with others; to transfer (something) to or unto others.
- Make the Earth […] turn round its own axis in twenty four hours, and towards the same point with all the other Spheres; and without participating this same motion to any other Planet or Star, all shall have their risings, settings, and in a word, all their other appearances.1661, Thomas Salusbury, Galilaeus Galilaeus Lyncaeus, His Systeme of the World, Second Dialogue, in Mathematical Collections and Translations, London, p. 105

Adjective

participate (not comparable)

(obsolete) Acting in common; participating.
- And, mutually participate, did minister
  Unto the appetite and affection common
  Of the whole body.c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...

participate meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali

participate in Hindi

to join in, to take part, to involve oneself: भाग लेना bhāg lenā, हिस्सा लेना hissā lenā, शराकत करना śarākat karnā

participate in Tamil

to join in, to take part, to involve oneself: கலந்துகொள் kalantukoḷ

participate in Urdu

to join in, to take part, to involve oneself: اشتراک کرنا iśtirāk karnā, شراکت کرنا śarākat karnā

participate in Bengali

অংশগ্রহণ করা, অংশী হওয়া, অংশ লত্তয়া

More languagesFewer languages

participate in Malayalam: പങ്കുകൊള്ളുക, ഓഹരിയുണ്ടാകുക, സംബന്ധപ്പെടുക, പങ്കുപറ്റുക
participate in Kannada: ಭಾಗವಹಿಸು, ಪಾಲ್ಗೊಳ್ಳು, ಸಹಭಾಗಿಯಾಗು, ಸೇರಿಕೊಳ್ಳು
participate in Punjabi: ਹਿੱਸਾ ਲੈਣਾ
participate in Gujarati: ભાગ લેવો
participate in Sanskrit: सचते sacate
participate in Arabic: شَارَكَ šāraka, سَاهَمَ sāhama, اِشْتَرَكَ ištaraka
participate in Malay: menyertai
participate in Persian: شرکت کردن šerkat kardan, شرکتادن
participate in Thai: เข้าร่วม kâo-rûuam, ร่วมมือ rûuam-mʉʉ, ร่วม rûuam
participate in Vietnamese: tham gia
participate in Myanmar: နွှဲ hnwai:, ယှဉ်နွှဲ hyanyhnwai:, ဆင်နွှဲ hcanghnwai:, ဖင့်နွှဲ hpang.hnwai:

Examples of participate in a sentence

For the second year, foreign amateur runners were allowed to participate in a 10-kilometer race, a half-marathon or a full marathon in Pyongyang, the capital.2015 April 16, Jeré Longman, “At Marathon in North Korea, Curiosity Goes a Long Way”, in The New York Times:
In what country on the globe is it, that in the class of mankind doomed to labour, we shall not find tribes, the women of which participate the toils of the men?1803, Robert Charles Dallas, The History of the Maroons, London: Longman and Rees, Volume 1, Letter 4, p. 109:

All 40 example sentences with participate

Forms of participate

third-person singular present	participates
present participle	participating
past participle	participated
past	participated

Past tense of participate: participated

Origin of participate

Borrowed from Latin participātus, the perfect passive participle of participō (“to take part in, share in, give part in, impart”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from particeps (“taking part (in), sharing (in); someone who takes part (in)”, particip- in compounds), from pars (“part”, part- in compounds) + -ceps (“which takes, taker”), literally “(someone) who takes part”; see part and capable. Compare Old English dǣlniman (“to participate”), an earlier calque of the same Latin verb.

Words formed from participate

Questions about participate

What does participate mean?: Participate means to join in, to take part, to involve oneself (in something).
What is participate in Hindi?: Participate in Hindi is भाग लेना (bhāg lenā), हिस्सा लेना (hissā lenā), शराकत करना (śarākat karnā). See Participate meaning in Hindi.
How do you use participate in a sentence?: For the second year, foreign amateur runners were allowed to participate in a 10-kilometer race, a half-marathon or a full marathon in Pyongyang, the capital.
What part of speech is participate?: Participate can be a verb or an adjective.
How do you pronounce participate?: Participate is pronounced /pɑːˈtɪs.ɪ.peɪt/ (UK).
What is the past tense of participate?: The past tense of participate is participated.

Words near participate in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: participate (page history and authors); participate (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); participate (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); participate (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); participate (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); participate (Gujarati, 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-participate.ogg.

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