LIGATE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does ligate mean? 

• LIGATE (verb)
  The verb LIGATE has 3 senses:

1. join letters in a ligature when writing

2. bind chemically

3. bind with a bandage or ligature

  Familiarity information: LIGATE used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• LIGATE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they ligate    ... he / she / it ligates   
Past simple: ligated   
Past participle: ligated   
-ing form: ligating   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Join letters in a ligature when writing

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "ligate" is one way to...):

join (cause to become joined or linked)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Bind chemically

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Context example:

The enzyme ligated

Hypernyms (to "ligate" is one way to...):

bind (form a chemical bond with)

Domain category:

chemical science; chemistry (the science of matter; the branch of the natural sciences dealing with the composition of substances and their properties and reactions)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Sense 3

Meaning:

Bind with a bandage or ligature

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Context example:

ligate the artery

Hypernyms (to "ligate" is one way to...):

bandage (dress by covering or binding)

Domain category:

surgery (the branch of medical science that treats disease or injury by operative procedures)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

ligation ((surgery) tying a duct or blood vessel with a ligature (as to prevent bleeding during surgery))

ligature (the act of tying or binding things together)

ligature (thread used by surgeons to bind a vessel (as to constrict the flow of blood))

 Context examples 

Possessing potent antineoplastic properties, etoposide binds to and inhibits topoisomerase II and its function in ligating cleaved DNA molecules, resulting in the accumulation of single- or double-strand DNA breaks, the inhibition of DNA replication and transcription, and apoptotic cell death.

(Etoposide, NCI Thesaurus)

An alkaloid isolated or derived synthetically from Podophyllum peltatum that can bind to and inhibit topoisomerase II and its function in ligating cleaved DNA molecules, resulting in the accumulation of single- or double-strand DNA breaks, the inhibition of DNA replication and transcription, and apoptotic cell death.

(Epipodophyllotoxin Compound, NCI Thesaurus)