Wiktionary

impregnate

English edit

Etymology edit

Earlier impregn, from Middle French imprégner, from Old French enpreignier.

Pronunciation edit

  • IPA(key): /ˈɪmpɹɛɡneɪt/, /ɪmˈpɹɛɡneɪt/
  • Audio (Southern England)(file)

Verb edit

impregnate (third-person singular simple present impregnates, present participle impregnating, simple past and past participle impregnated)

  1. (transitive) To cause to become pregnant.
    Synonyms: knock up, inseminate, (of animals) cover
    I was impregnated at a clinic but don't know who the sperm donor is.
    • 1903 [1901], Maurice Maeterlinck, translated by Alfred Sutro, The Life of the Bee, New York: Dodd, Mead, and Company, page 264:
      The queen at their head, the representative of the future, has not yet been impregnated. Their entire destiny depends on the ensuing nuptial flight.
  2. (transitive) To fertilize.
  3. (transitive) To saturate, or infuse.
    • 1791, John Walker, A Critical Pronouncing Dictionary […] ‎[1], London: Sold by G. G. J. and J. Robinſon, Paternoſter Row; and T. Cadell, in the Strand, →OCLC, page 498:
      To Tartarize, ta²r'ta⁴r-i¹ze, v. a.
      To impregnate with tartar.
    • 1835, Charles Lyell, Principles of Geology […] , 4th edition, volume III, London: John Murray, Book IV, page 322:
      We find those charæ which secrete the largest quantity of calcareous matter in their stems to abound near springs impregnated with carbonate of lime.
  4. (transitive) To fill pores or spaces with a substance.
    • 1937, Hugh Bertie Campbell Pollard, The mystery of scent, page 121:
      It takes a little time for the personal fatty acids to impregnate new shoes or boots, but from the scent point of view leather is a sponge, and the personal scent is left.
  5. (intransitive, dated) To become pregnant.
    • 2024 April 30 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison], “TUESDAY, April 19, 2024”, in The Spectator, number (please specify the issue number); republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volumes (please either specify the issue number or |volume=I to VI), New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC:
      Were they, like Spanish Jennets, to impregnate by the Wind, they could not have thought on a more proper Invention.
      The spelling has been modernized.

Derived terms edit

Translations edit

to add nutrients — see fertilize
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See also edit

Anagrams edit

Italian edit

Etymology 1 edit

Verb edit

impregnate

  1. inflection of impregnare:
    1. second-person plural present indicative
    2. second-person plural imperative

Etymology 2 edit

Participle edit

impregnate f pl

  1. feminine plural of impregnato

Anagrams edit

Spanish edit

Verb edit

impregnate

  1. second-person singular voseo imperative of impregnar combined with te
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