communicate

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin commūnicātus, perfect passive participle of commūnicō (“share, impart; make common”), from commūnis (“common”). Doublet of commune.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kəˈmjuːnɪkeɪt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: com‧mu‧ni‧cate

Verb

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. [from 16th c.]

      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. [from 16th c.]

      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 […], 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. [from 17th c.]

      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. [16th–19th c.]

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

      • 1603 (first performance), Ben[jamin] Jonson, Seianus His Fall, London: […] G[eorge] 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. [from 16th c.]
      • 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 [the Devil] 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). [from 16th c.]
      • 1660, Jeremy Taylor, “Of Repentance Preparatory to the Blessed Sacrament. Sect[ion] 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 […], London: […] R. Norton for John Martyn, James Allestry, and Thomas Dicas […], published 1661, →OCLC, pages 475–476:

        [W]hen ſhe [the church] 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. [from 16th c.]

      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 with (another room, vessel etc.) by means of an opening or channel. [from 16th c.]
      • 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.

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

Verb

commūnicāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of commūnicō