MASTICATE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does masticate mean? 

• MASTICATE (verb)
  The verb MASTICATE has 2 senses:

1. grind and knead

2. chew (food); to bite and grind with the teeth

  Familiarity information: MASTICATE used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MASTICATE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they masticate    ... he / she / it masticates   
Past simple: masticated   
Past participle: masticated   
-ing form: masticating   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Grind and knead

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Context example:

masticate rubber

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

knead; work (make uniform)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Chew (food); to bite and grind with the teeth

Classified under:

Verbs of eating and drinking

Synonyms:

chew; jaw; manducate; masticate

Context example:

The cows were masticating the grass

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

grate; grind (make a grating or grinding sound by rubbing together)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "masticate"):

champ; chomp (chew noisily)

champ (chafe at the bit, like horses)

gum; mumble (grind with the gums; chew without teeth and with great difficulty)

chaw (chew without swallowing)

crunch; munch (chew noisily)

gnaw (bite or chew on with the teeth)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

mastication (biting and grinding food in your mouth so it becomes soft enough to swallow)

 Context examples 

He ate the fish raw, masticating with painstaking care, for the eating was an act of pure reason.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)