Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
🗣️ To repeat words 🐦 To bring up food 💧 To flow back
to regurgitate

to regurgitate

1 8.0
To flow back the wrong way inside a pipe or the body
  • verb
  • /rɪˈɡɜrʤɪˌteɪt/
  • Specialized
translation icon : regurgitar
  • Removal methods such as applying heat from a cigarette end, grease (butter, petroleum jelly), or alcohol should never be used; they encourage the tick to regurgitate the contents of its gut and saliva into the wound, increasing the chance of infection.

Examples

  • The latter regurgitate the water a drop at a time and suspend it from their mouthparts.

    Academic text (1990)

  • The beaks were presumed to have been regurgitated by the fish.

    Academic text (1990)

  • A bat that misses out for two successive nights is in grave danger of not surviving a third, so it begs its companions to regurgitate a little of what they have collected.

    Academic text (2011)

  • A few of the birds we held in aviaries and fed chapil fruits, recording how long it took them to regurgitate the seeds—that's how we arrived at the figure of one hour.

    Academic text (2010)

  • The doctor explained that if the patient regurgitates the liquid, it could indicate a serious condition.

  • He was worried that the medication might cause him to regurgitate the fluids he had just consumed.

  • If the fluid is regurgitated during the procedure, the medical team needs to take immediate action.

Synonyms

to regurge
vsto regurgitate
  • Archaic
9.9

To move back in a strong flow, like water or blood

is used mainly in medical or scientific contexts to describe backward flow

Antonyms

to flow out
16 2.9

Move or pour out in a steady stream, often a liquid

Phrasal Verbs

to regurgitate information
1 7.7

To repeat facts or ideas without understanding them

How Forceful

to surge
57 4.1
to regurgitate
  • Specialized
1 8.0
backflowing
  • Specialized
7.5
to inch back
1 4.9

Surface Forms

regurgitate infinitive
regurgitated past
regurgitated past participle
regurgitating present participle
regurgitates third person singular

Morphology

regurgitate = gurgitate (semi-transparent) = re + gurgitate

The prefix re- indicates motion back and aligns with the sense of liquid flowing back, but the base 'gurgitate' is not a highly familiar morpheme to many learners.

Etymology

Regurgitate comes from Latin re- 'back' and gurgitare 'to flow', the same idea behind the word gurgle. That's why when liquid regurgitates, it 'flows back' into the wrong place instead of moving forward.