# communicate

Pronunciation: say "kuh-MYOO-ni-kayt" /kəˈmjuːnɪkeɪt/

## Verb

1. To express or exchange ideas and information with others, whether through words or other signs.
   - Simple: To share ideas or feelings with other people using words, signs, or actions.
   - _Dolphins communicate using a complex range of clicks and whistles._
   - _The colleagues communicated mostly through email during the pandemic._
2. To pass on information or knowledge to someone; to make something known or tell it.
   - Simple: To tell someone information or news so that they understand it.
   - _The pilot communicated the flight delay to passengers over the intercom._
   - _Managers must communicate company decisions clearly to their teams._
3. To pass a disease on to another person, animal, or other living thing.
   - Simple: To pass a sickness on to another person or animal.
   - _Ticks can communicate Lyme disease to both pets and people._
   - _Travelers unknowingly communicated the disease to several distant cities._
4. To pass on or transmit something intangible (such as heat, motion, or a quality) to another person or thing.
   - Simple: To pass something like heat, movement, or a feeling on to another person or thing.
   - _Vibrating strings communicate their energy to the surrounding air._
   - _A blow to one end of the rod communicates the shock along its whole length._
5. To be connected to another room, vessel, or space by means of an opening or channel.
   - Simple: To be joined to another room, space, or container by an opening or passage.
   - _The two chambers communicate through a narrow channel cut into the rock._
   - _In the old house, the study communicated directly with the library._
6. To take Holy Communion, receiving the bread and wine when the Eucharist is celebrated.
   - Simple: To take part in Holy Communion by receiving the bread and wine.
   - _Only baptized members may communicate at this church's altar._
   - _The faithful communicated quietly as the choir sang._
7. To administer the Holy Communion to someone by giving them the consecrated bread and wine.
   - Simple: To give someone Holy Communion by handing them the bread and wine.
   - _The bishop communicated each candidate following the confirmation rite._
   - _In an emergency, a layperson may communicate the dying._

## Verb

8. To share in something; to have it in common with another, or to partake of it. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To share in something or have it in common with others.

## Adjective

9. Joined together; made common or shared with another rather than kept separate. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: Linked or shared with others, not kept apart.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–8** — This is an adapted borrowing of Latin commūnicāt-, the past participial stem of commūnicō ("to share, impart, make common"), plus the verb-forming suffix -ate. The Latin verb comes from commūnis ("common"), and the word is comparable to French communiquer.
**Meaning 9** — This comes from Middle English communicate, an adapted borrowing of Latin commūnicātus, the perfect passive participle of commūnicō ("to make commune"), with the adjective-forming suffix -ate.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/communicate (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).