Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
🧫 To grow in warmth 🚀 To help develop 🥚 To warm eggs
to incubate

to incubate

5 7.2
Keep cells or bacteria in warm conditions so they grow
  • verb
  • /ˈɪŋkjʊˌbeɪt/
  • Specialized
translation icon : incubar
  • The swab was then streaked directly onto MacConkey's agar and incubated at 37°C for 24 hours.
  • plates were incubated
  • incubated for 24 hours
  • samples were incubated

Immunocompromised age aids patients have also been suspected to potentially incubate more variants.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • Then they incubate the flask for a day and then plate them out again.

  • Afterward, 125 mM glycine was added and incubated for 5 minutes.

    Academic text (2017)

  • I need this to incubate for 24 hours.

    Gangland (2001)

  • OK, So you incubate, you let let it wait for a while, then you wash.

  • The plates then were incubated at room temperature for 24 hours to activate the cultures.

    Academic text (1993)

  • Then the mixture was shaken by hand and incubated in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes.

    Academic text (2013)

  • Mineral oil was added to each tube, and then the tubes were incubated at 32 degrees C for 48 hours.

    Academic text (1993)

  • The coliform analyses were done using the membrane filter method with m-Endo broth and incubated for 24 hours.

    Academic text (1998)

  • Total bacteria colonies were detected on nutrient agar plates incubated for 48 hours at 30°C.

    Academic text (2006)

  • The scientist will incubate the culture at a constant temperature for optimal growth.

Synonyms

to incubate (a) culture
vsto incubate
  • Specialized
6.6

To keep bacteria or cells at a set warm temperature so they grow

is broader, used for eggs and other items not limited to lab samples

Antonyms

to abandon
773 3.1

Leave someone or something behind permanently and without care

to neglect
256 3.8

Fail to care for someone or something you should look after

Phrasal Verbs

to incubate ideas
6.1

To let ideas grow slowly before you act

Compounds

to incubate (a) culture
  • Specialized
6.6

To keep bacteria or cells at a set warm temperature so they grow

How Supported

to nurture
155 3.5
to incubate
  • Specialized
5 7.2
culture
  • Specialized
61 5.3
to maintain
931 3.1

Surface Forms

incubate infinitive
incubated past
incubated past participle
incubating present participle
incubates third person singular

Morphology

incubate = incub + ate

The verb is formed from a non-productive combining form plus the Latinate verb-forming suffix '-ate'; these components are not recognizable as independent English words for an average B1 learner, so the meaning cannot be reliably deduced from parts.

Etymology

Incubate comes from the Latin parts in- 'on' and cubare 'to lie', because people once 'lay on' eggs to keep them warm. So in science, to incubate something means to keep it in the right warm conditions so it can develop and grow.