tamer; tamest
1
: reduced from a state of native wildness especially so as to be tractable and useful to humans : domesticated
tame animals
2
: made docile and submissive : subdued
3
: lacking spirit, zest, interest, or the capacity to excite : insipid
a tame campaign
tamely
adverb
tameness
noun
tamed; taming
1
a
: to reduce from a wild to a domestic state
b
: to subject to cultivation
c
: to bring under control : harness
2
3
: to tone down : soften
tamed the language in the play
: to become tame
tamer
noun
Examples of tame in a Sentence
Adjective
The island's birds are quite tame.
They ran a pretty tame campaign.
Some people were shocked by the movie, but I found the story pretty tame.
Members of the audience were too tame to interrupt the speaker.
Verb
It took a while to tame the horse.
the people who tamed the Wild West
He struggled to tame his temper.
The government needs to do something to tame inflation.
Recent Examples on the Web
Hannah Schoenbaum, Los Angeles Times, 16 Mar. 2025
Monthly cost increases, however, have been tamer and that should translate to milder annual price rises the first half of 2025 due to favorable comparisons with year-ago figures, Goldman Sachs said in a research note.
—Paul Davidson, USA TODAY, 29 Jan. 2025
Paul Jebara, Forbes.com, 16 Apr. 2025
In a pair of preprint studies posted in March 2025 to bioRxiv, European researchers recently revisited this question — and introduced a gruesome theory: maybe cats were first tamed not to be pets, but to be sacrificed.
—Jenny Lehmann, Discover Magazine, 14 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for tame
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
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Adjective
The meeting was tamer than some constituent meetings held by Republicans, who hold majorities in the House and the Senate.
—Hannah Schoenbaum, Los Angeles Times, 16 Mar. 2025
Monthly cost increases, however, have been tamer and that should translate to milder annual price rises the first half of 2025 due to favorable comparisons with year-ago figures, Goldman Sachs said in a research note.
—Paul Davidson, USA TODAY, 29 Jan. 2025
Verb
This wasn't merely following fashion but embracing a philosophical shift championed by designers like Capability Brown—from nature tamed to nature framed.
—Paul Jebara, Forbes.com, 16 Apr. 2025
In a pair of preprint studies posted in March 2025 to bioRxiv, European researchers recently revisited this question — and introduced a gruesome theory: maybe cats were first tamed not to be pets, but to be sacrificed.
—Jenny Lehmann, Discover Magazine, 14 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for tame
Cite this Entry
“Tame.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tame. Accessed 4 May. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
tame
1 of 2 adjective
tamer; tamest
1
: changed from the wild state so as to become useful and obedient to human beings : domesticated
a tame elephant
2
: made gentle and obedient
3
: lacking spirit or interest : dull
tamely
adverb
tameness
noun
tame
2 of 2 verb
tamed; taming
1
a
: to make or become tame
tame a lion
b
: to subject to cultivation
wilderness tamed by farmers
2
: to bring under control : subdue
tame your temper
tamer
noun
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