ovulate

1 of 2

verb

ovu·​late ˈä-vyə-ˌlāt  ˈō- 

ovulated; ovulating; ovulates

transitive + intransitive

: to release a mature ovum during ovulation : to discharge an egg cell from an ovary

… women don't necessarily have textbook cycles—they may ovulate on day 8 in a short cycle, for example, or on day 20 in a long one—so predicting fertility can be a lottery.

—Judith N. Schwartz

The twins came from a single embryo, as normally results when a mare ovulates and is bred.

—The Chronicle of the Horse

Large male canines usually function in inter-male competition for ovulating females …

—David D. Arter

To initiate embryo transfer a female animal is given a fertility drug that causes her to ovulate several eggs at one time.

—Noel Vietmeyer

A woman is born with a finite number of eggs, which gradually get ovulated or die off as she ages.

—Claudia Kalb

ovulate

2 of 2

adjective

ovu·​late ˈä-vyə-ˌlāt  ˈō- 

-lət

botany

: bearing an ovule (see ovule sense 1)

ovulate pine cones

Examples of ovulate in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Verb

To be sure those eggs don’t fully ovulate (and pop out of your ovaries) before your doctor can retrieve them, your surgery will usually be scheduled for just about 35 to 36 hours after your trigger shot—so your eggs are completely mature but also still easily accessible. —Erica Sloan, SELF, 4 Oct. 2024

In some cases, a woman doesn’t make enough of the hormones needed to ovulate. —Hannah Yasharoff, USA TODAY, 22 Sep. 2024

The clinic also offers natural-cycle IVF, which uses the single egg that a woman ovulates each month for fertilization and transfer. —Sushma Subramanian, The Atlantic, 23 Aug. 2024

Four in 10 women continue to ovulate while taking the progestin-only pill, according to The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. —Caroline C. Boyle, USA TODAY, 3 Sep. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Verb

ovule or its source, Medieval Latin ōvulum + -ate entry 4

Adjective

ovule + -ate entry 3

First Known Use

Verb

1851, in the meaning defined above

Adjective

circa 1890, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

ovulate

verb

ovu·​late ˈäv-yə-ˌlāt  ˈōv- 

ovulated; ovulating

: to produce eggs or release them from an ovary

ovulation

ˌäv-yə-ˈlā-shən

ˌōv-

noun

Medical Definition

ovulate

verb

ovu·​late ˈäv-yə-ˌlāt 

also

ˈōv- 

ovulated; ovulating; ovulates

transitive + intransitive

: to release a mature ovum during ovulation : to discharge an egg cell from an ovary

Some women ovulate regularly but fail to conceive after more than a year of unprotected intercourse and so are considered to be subfertile.

—Edward Hughes et al., Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews

In this way, the dominant follicle signals its readiness to ovulate through the ability to produce large amounts of estrogen.

—Diane M. Duffy et al., Endocrine Reviews

Older women are more likely to ovulate eggs that are aneuploid.

—Julie A. Merriman et al., Biology of Reproduction

When implantation of a conceptus does not occur in ovulating women, the corpus luteum involutes, and the concentrations of circulating estrogen and progesterone decline.

—Bryan D. Cowan et al., The New England Journal of Medicine