participate

From the participle stem of Latin participare (“to take part in, share in, give part in, impart”), from particeps (“taking part in, sharing in”), from pars (“part”) + capiō (“to take”); see part and capable. Compare Old English dǣlniman (“to participate”), an earlier calque of the same Latin verb.

(verb)

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /pɑːˈtɪsɪpeɪt/
• (General American) enPR: pär-tĭsʹə-pāt, IPA^(key): /pɑɹˈtɪsəpeɪt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

(adjective)

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /pɑːˈtɪsɪpət/
• (General American) enPR: pär-tĭsʹə-pət, IPA^(key): /pɑɹˈtɪsəpət/

participate (third-person singular simple present participates, present participle participating, simple past and past participle participated)

1. (intransitive) To join in, to take part, to involve oneself (in something).
   • 2015 April 16, Jeré Longman, “At Marathon in North Korea, Curiosity Goes a Long Way”, in The New York Times‎:

     For the second year, foreign amateur runners were allowed to participate in a 10-kilometer race, a half-marathon or a full marathon in Pyongyang, the capital. The races were a part of the April 15 birthday celebration of Kim Il-sung, the former leader of North Korea and father of his successors: Kim Jong-il, a son, and Kim Jong-un, a grandson.

2. (obsolete, transitive) To share, to take part in (something).
   • c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     A spirit I am indeed;
     But am in that dimension grossly clad
     Which from the womb I did participate.

   • 1638, Thomas Herbert, Some Yeares Travels Into Africa & Asia the Great‎, London: Jacob Blome and Richard Bishop, Book I, p. 52:

     [The Persees] are tollerated all sorts of meat; but (in obedience to the Mahomitan and Bannyan ’mongst whom they live) refraine Beefe and Hog flesh: they seldome feed together, lest they might participate one anothers impurity: each has his owne cup […] .

   • 1792, Charlotte Smith, Desmond, Broadview, published 2001, page 244:

     e is less likely there to find companions who understand him, and can participate his pleasure: for the French ladies in general have, I believe, very little notion of that species of delight that arises from contemplating the simple beauties of nature.

   • 1803, Robert Charles Dallas, The History of the Maroons‎, London: Longman and Rees, Volume 1, Letter 4, p. 109:

     In what country on the globe is it, that in the class of mankind doomed to labour, we shall not find tribes, the women of which participate the toils of the men?

3. (obsolete) To share (something) with others; to transfer (something) to or unto others.
   • 1661, Thomas Salusbury, Galilaeus Galilaeus Lyncaeus, His Systeme of the World, Second Dialogue, in Mathematical Collections and Translations, London, p. 105,

     Make the Earth turn round its own axis in twenty four hours, and towards the same point with all the other Spheres; and without participating this same motion to any other Planet or Star, all shall have their risings, settings, and in a word, all their other appearances.

participate (not comparable)

1. (obsolete) Acting in common; participating.
   • c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , line 101:

     And, mutually participate, did minister
     Unto the appetite and affection common
     Of the whole body.

• “participate”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “participate”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• John A. Simpson and Edmund S. C. Weiner, editors (1989), “participate”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN.

participāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of participō

participate

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