Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
to marinate

to marinate

51 3.9
Soak food in a flavored liquid before cooking to add flavor
  • verb
  • /ˈmɛrəˌneɪt/
translation icon : marinar
  • Let me just start the dishwasher and marinate the steaks for tonight.

I'm going to do just probably soy sauce, ginger and garlic and then let it marinate while the quinoa cooks.

Examples

  • Tia, that was the prime rib I was marinating for dinner.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • You can marinate it in soy and honey.

  • ADAM: Yeah, yeah, so the secret is to marinate the chicken for flavor.

    Words on Bathroom Walls (2020)

  • We rub them, let them marinate overnight and then slow cook.

  • Don't forget to marinate it first.

    Mr. Saturday Night (1992)

  • Pour the sauce over the beef, stir to coat, and let marinate for 20 minutes.

    Academic text (1990)

  • And you asked me how to marinate ahi tuna... and I said, "All you need is Italian salad dressing."

    Jingle All the Way (1996)

  • The special is marinated swordfish, tabouleh and Moroccan charmoula.

    Shame (2011)

  • They're wonderfully marinated and guaranteed to be tender, juicy, and downright delicious.

    END:CIV (2011)

  • To enhance the flavor, you should marinate the chicken in a spicy sauce for at least two hours.

Synonyms

to marinade
vsto marinate
3.7

To soak food in a flavored liquid before cooking to add taste

is the same in meaning and use with no difference in sense
to souse
vsto marinate
8.9

To soak meat or fish in a salty liquid before cooking

uses a general soaking method rather than acidic or brine cooking

How Long

to cure
26 4.6
to pickle
39 2.9
to marinate
51 3.9
to soak
156 1.0
to rinse
83 1.0

Surface Forms

marinate infinitive
marinated past
marinated past participle
marinating present participle
marinates third person singular

Morphology

marinate = marinade (transparent) = marinade + ate

The verb is directly formed from the noun 'marinade' (to put into a marinade), so learners who know 'marinade' can readily infer the verb.

Etymology

Marinate comes from a word that means 'sea', the same root you see in marine. Long ago cooks would soak food in salt water like the sea, so to marinate now means to soak food in a flavored liquid to add taste and make it tender.