Did you know?
Macerate is derived from the Latin verb macerare, which means "to soften" or "to steep," and, in Late Latin, can also mean "to mortify (the flesh)." Macerate first entered English in the mid-1500s to refer both to the wasting away of flesh especially by fasting and to softening or steeping. A few other manifestations sprouted thereafter from the word's figurative branch (e.g., the 18th-century novelist Laurence Sterne once wrote of "a city so macerated with expectation"); however, those extensions wilted in time. Today, the "steeping" and "soaking" senses of macerate saturate culinary articles (as in "macerating fruit in liquor") as well as other writings (scientific ones, for instance: "the food is macerated in the gizzard" or "the wood is macerated in the solution").
Examples of macerate in a Sentence
Jonah Flicker, Robb Report, 29 May 2026
This recipe solves that problem by macerating the diced rhubarb and strawberries with sugar before folding them into the muffin batter.
—The New York Times News Service Syndicate, San Diego Union-Tribune, 20 May 2026
Plus, each batch of Aventus is weighed, mixed, macerated and filtered by hand.
—Bestreviews, Mercury News, 8 May 2026
Set the fruit aside to macerate.
—Sarah Martens, Better Homes & Gardens, 6 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for macerate
Cite this Entry
“Macerate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/macerate. Accessed 11 Jun. 2026.
Copy CitationMedical Definition
macerate
1 of 2 verb
macerate
2 of 2 noun
