regurgitate

verb

re·gur·gi·tate (ˌ)rē-ˈgər-jə-ˌtāt

regurgitated; regurgitating

Synonyms of regurgitate next

intransitive verb

: to become thrown or poured back

transitive verb

: to throw or pour back or out from or as if from a cavity

regurgitate food

memorized facts to regurgitate on the exam

Did you know?

Something regurgitated has typically been taken in, at least partially digested, and then spit back out—either literally or figuratively. The word often appears in biological contexts (e.g., in describing how some birds feed their chicks by regurgitating incompletely digested food) or in references to ideas or information that has been acquired and restated. A student, for example, might be expected to learn information from a textbook or a teacher and then regurgitate it for a test. Regurgitate, which entered the English vocabulary in the latter half of the 16th century, is of Latin origin and traces back to the Latin word for "whirlpool," which is gurges.

Example Sentences

The bird regurgitates to feed its young. The bird regurgitates food to feed its young. She memorized the historical dates only to regurgitate them on the exam. The speaker was just regurgitating facts and figures.

Recent Examples on the Web What some conservatives are asking for, on the other hand, is a robot that will regurgitate falsehoods, conform to their more extreme views, and say the N-word. —

Miles Klee, Rolling Stone, 19 Apr. 2023 Kacsmaryk disagreed and, after largely regurgitating the plaintiffs’ arguments without further analysis, concluded that the lawsuit was still valid. —

Matt Ford, The New Republic, 11 Apr. 2023 These models work by identifying and regurgitating patterns in language, like a super-powerful autocorrect. —

Matteo Wong, The Atlantic, 16 Feb. 2023 As the royals don’t leave their chamber, workers give them regurgitated food from their own mouths. —

Elizabeth Preston, New York Times, 5 May 2023 There’s a lot more Menudo than Menendez here, which is fine; the murder story has been regurgitated and dramatized ad nauseum for more than 30 years now, with the latest, upcoming sample, Ryan Murphy’s Netflix series Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, just announced. —

Chris Vognar, Rolling Stone, 2 May 2023 Students listen and regurgitate. —

Caroline Allen, Forbes, 23 Oct. 2021 Are you subscribed to a million Substacks that all regurgitate the same discourse on how the U.S.-China trade war is impacting stay-at-home dads? —

Irving Ruan, The New Yorker, 18 Mar. 2023 The details are too involved to regurgitate here. —

Dave Hyde, sun-sentinel.com, 23 Oct. 2021 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'regurgitate.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Medieval Latin regurgitatus, past participle of regurgitare, from Latin re- + Late Latin gurgitare to engulf, from Latin gurgit-, gurges whirlpool — more at voracious

First Known Use

1578, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense

Time Traveler

The first known use of regurgitate was in 1578

See more words from the same year