Word.ws English Dictionary

sternutate

sternutate verb: to expel air as a reflex induced by an irritation in the nose.

Verb

sternutate (third-person singular simple present sternutates, present participle sternutating, simple past and past participle sternutated)

  1. (humorous, medical slang) To expel air as a reflex induced by an irritation in the nose.
    • Scientists are attempting to unpick the mystery of the “photic sneeze” – a bizarre reflex that causes people to sternutate, or sneeze, in response to bright light – and they need your help.2020 October 11, Lisa Geddes, “Calling all sneezers: scientists try to unpick mystery of 'photosneezia'”, in The Guardian
    Synonyms:
    sneeze

Synonyms of sternutate

Forms of sternutate

third-person singular presentsternutates
present participlesternutating
past participlesternutated
paststernutated

Origin of sternutate

Borrowed from Latin sternūtāre.

Words formed from sternutate

Questions about sternutate

What does sternutate mean?
Sternutate means to expel air as a reflex induced by an irritation in the nose.
What part of speech is sternutate?
Sternutate is a verb.
What is the past tense of sternutate?
The past tense of sternutate is sternutated.

Words near sternutate in the dictionary

  1. sternsmen
  2. sternson
  3. sternsons
  4. sternum
  5. sternums
  6. sternutate
  7. sternutated
  8. sternutates
  9. sternutating
  10. sternutation
  11. sternutations

Source and license

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