communicate

Adapted borrowing of Latin commūnicāt- (past participial stem of commūnicō (“share, impart; make common”)) +‎ -ate (verb-forming suffix), from commūnis (“common”) +‎ -icō. Compare French communiquer and its older (and now obsolete) English cognate from Middle French, communique.

• IPA^(key): /kəˈmjuːnɪkeɪt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: com‧mu‧ni‧cate

communicate (third-person singular simple present communicates, present participle communicating, simple past and past participle communicated)

1. To impart.
   1. (transitive) To impart or transmit (information or knowledge) to someone; to make known, to tell.

      It is vital that I communicate this information to you.

   2. (transitive) To impart or transmit (an intangible quantity, substance); to give a share of.

      to communicate motion by means of a crank

      • 1660, Jeremy Taylor, “The Introduction”, in The Worthy Communicant or A Discourse of the Nature, Effects, and Blessings Consequent to the Worthy Receiving of the Lords Supper votions Fitted to Every Part of the Ministration.">…], London: R. Norton for John Martyn, James Allestry, and Thomas Dicas , published 1661, →OCLC, page 2:

        Did ye not knovv that I ought to be ib my fathers houſe? that is, there vvhere God is vvorſhipped, vvhere he communicates his bleſſing and holy influences, there and there only vve are ſure to meet our deareſt Lord.

   3. (transitive) To pass on (a disease) to another person, animal etc.

      The disease was mainly communicated via rats and other vermin.

2. To share
   1. (transitive, obsolete) To share (in); to have in common, to partake of.

      We shall now consider those functions of intelligence which man communicates with the higher beasts.

      • 1603 (first performance), Ben Jonson, Seianus His Fall, London: G Elld, for Thomas Thorpe, published 1605, →OCLC, (please specify the page):

        thousands that communicate our loss

   2. (intransitive, Christianity) To receive the bread and wine at a celebration of the Eucharist; to take part in Holy Communion.
      • 1899 January – 1902 January, John Buchan, “The Watcher by the Threshold”, in The Watcher by the Threshold, and Other Tales, Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood and Sons, published 1902, →OCLC, page 213:

        It seems that now was driving Alison hard. She had been remiss of late—fewer souls sent to hell, less zeal in quenching the Spirit, and, above all, the crowning offense that her bairn had communicated in Christ's kirk.

      • 1971, Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, Folio Society, published 2012, page 148:

        The ‘better sort’ might communicate on a separate day; and in some parishes even the quality of the communion wine varied with the social quality of the recipients.

   3. (transitive, Christianity) To administer the Holy Communion to (someone).
      • 1660, Jeremy Taylor, “Of Repentance Preparatory to the Blessed Sacrament. Sect V. What Significations of Repentance are to be Accepted by the Church in Admission of Penitents to the Communion.”, in The Worthy Communicant or A Discourse of the Nature, Effects, and Blessings Consequent to the Worthy Receiving of the Lords Supper votions Fitted to Every Part of the Ministration.">…], London: R. Norton for John Martyn, James Allestry, and Thomas Dicas , published 1661, →OCLC, pages 475–476:

        hen ſhe can underſtand that ſuch an emendation is made, and the man is really reformed, ſhe can pronounce him pardon'd, or vvhich is all one, ſhe may communicate him.

   4. (intransitive) To express or convey ideas, either through verbal or nonverbal means; to have intercourse, to exchange information.

      Many deaf people communicate with sign language.

      I feel I hardly know him; I just wish he'd communicate with me a little more.

   5. (intransitive) To be connected by means of an opening or channel .

      The living room communicates with the back garden by these French windows.

      • 1860 December – 1861 August, Charles Dickens, chapter II, in Great Expectations  In Three Volumes">…], volume I, London: Chapman and Hall, , published October 1861, →OCLC, page 29:

        There was a door in the kitchen, communicating with the forge;

      • 1907, Ronald M. Burrows, The Discoveries In Crete, page 7:

        A scheme of internal staircases and upper stories enabled the rooms built upon this eastern slope to communicate with the Central Court on the crown of the hill.

• See also Thesaurus:communicate

From Middle English communicate, an adapted borrowing of Latin commūnicātus (see -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), perfect passive participle of commūnicō (“to make commune”).

communicate (comparative more communicate, superlative most communicate)

2. (obsolete) Communicated, (made) commune, joined.
   • 1561, T. Norton, translation of J. Calvin, Institution of Christian Religion (1634), volume ii. xiv., page 226:

     The property of the manhood is communicate with the other nature.

   • 1893, W. Allingham, Varieties in Prose, volume III., page 260:

     Art..gives a natural scope, and lasting experience, to Genius. Artists are men of a communicate genius.

commūnicāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of commūnicō