Examples of copulate in a Sentence
Some animals have complex mating rituals before they copulate.
the time of year when deer in the wild are likely to copulate
Recent Examples on the Web
Fasel and his colleagues observed 93 instances of the bats copulating, mostly in videos shot by Jeucken.
—
Lori Youmshajekian, Scientific American, 21 Nov. 2023
Suttree, published in 1979, was equally bleak, though also darkly funny, with one passage involving a kid who gets arrested after copulating with every watermelon in a farmer’s patch.
—Jon Blistein, Rolling Stone, 13 June 2023
The short answer is that the Copenhagen Zoo has a no-contraceptives policy (and animals like to copulate).
—Christie Wilcox, Discover Magazine, 14 Feb. 2014
While the other males took 3.3 to 3.9 seconds to start copulating, the glucose-avoidant males began within 2.2 seconds, before the females could sense the bad taste of the glucose.
—Will Sullivan, Smithsonian Magazine, 7 Apr. 2023
Out of 52 pairings of mice, there were no pregnancies among mice that copulated within the 2.5-hour window, Balbach said.
—Adrianna Rodriguez, USA TODAY, 16 Feb. 2023
So help me God, the grownups will copulate.
—Raven Smith, Vogue, 3 Feb. 2022
The males thrash around trying to copulate, covering themselves with pollen.
—Kristin Ohlson, Discover Magazine, 2 Jan. 2019
Under pressure to copulate quickly, these males have developed gonopodia with longer tips that are more densely covered in bony structures—perhaps for gripping.
—Elizabeth Preston, Discover Magazine, 25 Aug. 2015
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Lori Youmshajekian, Scientific American, 21 Nov. 2023
Suttree, published in 1979, was equally bleak, though also darkly funny, with one passage involving a kid who gets arrested after copulating with every watermelon in a farmer’s patch.
—Jon Blistein, Rolling Stone, 13 June 2023
The short answer is that the Copenhagen Zoo has a no-contraceptives policy (and animals like to copulate).
—Christie Wilcox, Discover Magazine, 14 Feb. 2014
While the other males took 3.3 to 3.9 seconds to start copulating, the glucose-avoidant males began within 2.2 seconds, before the females could sense the bad taste of the glucose.
—Will Sullivan, Smithsonian Magazine, 7 Apr. 2023
Out of 52 pairings of mice, there were no pregnancies among mice that copulated within the 2.5-hour window, Balbach said.
—Adrianna Rodriguez, USA TODAY, 16 Feb. 2023
So help me God, the grownups will copulate.
—Raven Smith, Vogue, 3 Feb. 2022
The males thrash around trying to copulate, covering themselves with pollen.
—Kristin Ohlson, Discover Magazine, 2 Jan. 2019
Under pressure to copulate quickly, these males have developed gonopodia with longer tips that are more densely covered in bony structures—perhaps for gripping.
—Elizabeth Preston, Discover Magazine, 25 Aug. 2015
See More
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'copulate.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Copulate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/copulate. Accessed 4 Dec. 2023.
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Kids Definition
Medical Definition
copulate
intransitive verb
cop·u·late
ˈkäp-yə-ˌlāt 
copulated; copulating
1
: to engage in sexual intercourse
2
of gametes
: to fuse permanently compare conjugate sense 1
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