castrate

1 of 2

verb

cas·​trate ˈka-ˌstrāt 

castrated; castrating; castrates

transitive verb

1

a

: to deprive (a male animal or person) of the testes

The sexes of sheep are not ascertained by agriculturists until several months after birth, at the period when the males are castrated.

—Charles Darwin

… he has been able to perform works written for the castrati, the boys who were castrated before puberty in the mid-1500s in Europe so they could achieve ultra-high notes.

—Kerrie O'Brien

also, chiefly in technical contexts : to deprive (a female animal or person) of the ovaries

b

: to block the production of sex hormones in (a person) by the use of hormone therapy (see hormone therapy sense b) : to cause to undergo chemical castration

a drug used to chemically castrate sex offenders

Health care professionals treat advanced prostate cancer patients by reducing production of the hormone testosterone. … physicians may medically castrate patients, a non-surgical method that uses drugs such as synthetic luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) agonists.

—San Diego Center for Urology Care

2

a

: to deprive of virility : emasculate

Throughout his writing life Hemingway constantly criticized and satirized Fitzgerald, whom he felt had been psychologically castrated by Zelda, couldn't hold his liquor, had no personal dignity, and publicly humiliated himself.

—Jeffrey Meyers

b

: to deprive of vitality, strength, or effectiveness

The bill was castrated by removal of the enforcement provisions.

… a barrage of questions about whether energy policy dictated by the White House would castrate the EPA's drive to clean up air pollution.

—Nature

castrator

ˈka-ˌstrā-tər 

noun

plural castrators

castratory

ˈka-strə-ˌtȯr-ē 

adjective

castrate

2 of 2

noun

plural castrates

: a castrated individual

Arango was a well-known celibate with a special devotion to St. Erasmus of Delft, the castrate.

—Donald Barthelme

Castration of meat-producing male animals has been widely used for a very long time, mainly for an easier control of their behaviour and the higher propensity of castrates to deposit fat, a commodity that has been in high demand until quite recently.

—Carrick Devine and M. Dikeman

Synonyms

Verb

• undermine
• weaken
• drain
• wear
• exhaust
• petrify

Examples of castrate in a Sentence

Verb

Farmers castrated the bull calf.

a movie version that castrates the hard-hitting novel

Recent Examples on the Web

Verb

The opera premiered in Rome at a time when castrati, or castrated male singers, took on treble roles; a papal decree forbade women from performing onstage. —Hannah Edgar, Chicago Tribune, 28 June 2025

Tasks included repairing barbed wire fences, castrating animals and laying irrigation pipes, the suit alleges. —Tyler Kingkade, NBC news, 12 June 2025

Male piglets are routinely castrated without anesthesia. —Eric Levitz, Vox, 7 Dec. 2018

The victims are all male, the corpses all castrated, and each crime scene is signed with lines of poetry by the Argentinean writer Alejandra Pizarnik. —The New Yorker, New Yorker, 31 Mar. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Verb

borrowed from Latin castrātus, past participle of castrāre "to remove the testes of (a male animal), spay (a female animal), emasculate," probably derivative of a noun *castrum "knife, cutting instrument," going back to Indo-European *ḱ_əs-tro-, from *ḱ_əs-, zero-grade of *ḱes- "cut, cut off" + *-tr-, suffix of instruments; whence also, with presumed full grade, Sanskrit śástra- "knife, murder weapon"; from the base *ḱes- Sanskrit ví śasta "carved up," śāśá- "knife for butchering"

Note: Other words that have been attributed to Indo-European *ḱes- are Greek keázein, aorist keássai "to split," the formation of which is unclear; and the Slavic etymon exemplified by Russian kosá "scythe," Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian kòsa (though this has also been compared with Russian kosój "slanting, oblique," Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian kȍs).

Noun

derivative of castrate entry 1

First Known Use

Verb

1554, in the meaning defined at sense 2b

Noun

1639, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for castrate

• abate
• airfreight
• await
• baseplate
• berate
• birthdate
• birthrate
• bookplate
• borate
• breastplate
• bromate
• casemate

Kids Definition

castrate

verb

cas·​trate ˈkas-ˌtrāt 

castrated; castrating

: to remove the ovaries or especially the testes of

castration

ka-ˈstrā-shən 

noun

Medical Definition

castrate

1 of 2 transitive verb

cas·​trate ˈkas-ˌtrāt 

castrated; castrating

1

a

: to deprive (a male animal or person) of the testes

b

: to deprive (a female animal or person) of the ovaries

2

: to block the production of sex hormones in (a person) by the use of hormone therapy (see hormone therapy sense b) : to cause to undergo chemical castration

… chemically castrate patients to eliminate the [prostate] cancer's primary source of androgens.

—The Atlanta Journal and Constitution

castrator noun

also castrater

-ər 

castrate

2 of 2 noun

: a castrated individual