conjugate

Definition

To inflect (a verb) for each person, in order, for one or more tenses; to list or recite its principal parts.

Etymology

The adjective (as “combined, united”) and noun are first attested in 1471, in Middle English, the verb in 1530; partly from Middle English conjugat(e) (“combined, united”), partly directly borrowed from New Latin coniugātus, the perfect passive participle of Latin coniugō (“to yoke together, combine; (New Latin) to conjugate, decline, inflect”) (see -ate (etymology 1, 2 and 3)), from con- (“with”) + iugō (“to join”). In Classical Latin, the word for conjugate (grammar) was dēclīnō, coniugō is a later back-formation from post-classical coniugātiō (“conjugation, declension”).

Example Sentences

• "In English, the verb 'to be' is conjugated as follows: 'I am', 'you are', 'he/she/it is', 'we are', 'you are', 'they are'."
• "The effects of hunger were often conjugated with epidemic disease."