Meanings
present singular third person regurgitates · participle present regurgitating · participle past regurgitated · past regurgitated
- transitiveTo throw up or vomit; to eject what has previously been swallowed.
1 more example
[…] The flesh [of the mistletoe berry] is sticky, and forms strings and ribbons between my thumb and forefinger. For the mistletoe, this viscous goop – and by the way, viscous comes to English from viscum – is crucial. The stickiness means that, after eating the berries, birds often regurgitate the seeds and then wipe their bills on twigs – leading to the seeds' getting glued to the tree, where they can germinate and begin the cycle anew.
2014 December 23, Olivia Judson, “The hemiparasite season [print version: 'Under the hemiparasite', International New York Times, 24–25 December 2014, page 7]”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 23 Dec 2014Synonyms: vomit, throw up, cast, disgorge, retch, puke, barf, spew
- derogatoryfigurativelysometimestransitiveTo repeat (information) verbatim or by rote, typically after learning it without actual comprehension.
The fact that ChatGPT rephrases material from the Web instead of quoting it word for word makes it seem like a student expressing ideas in her own words, rather than simply regurgitating what she’s read[…]
2023 February 9, Ted Chiang, “ChatGPT Is a Blurry JPEG of the Web”, in The New Yorker
plural regurgitates
- Something regurgitated; regurgitated matter.
However, the growing prevalence of plastics in some areas means these can be difficult for albatrosses to distinguish, leading to accidental ingestion. These may then accumulate in the gut or be passed to offspring through regurgitates.
2021, Alice A. Horton, Isobelle Blissett, Impacts of Plastic Pollution on Freshwater Aquatic, Terrestrial and Avian Migratory Species in the Asia and Pacific Region, Convention on Migratory Species, page 22
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo throw up or vomit; to eject what has previously been swallowed.
More synonyms by meaning
verbeject the contents of the stomach through the mouth
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Late Latinregurgitātus
- Englishregurgitate
From Late Latin regurgitātus, past participle of regurgitāre, combined form of re- (“back”) + gurgitāre (“to engulf, flood”), from gurges (“whirlpool, gulf, sea, abyss”).
More words from Late Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian повръщам, повтарям буквално
- повръщам (povrăštam)to throw up
- повтарям буквално (povtarjam bukvalno)to repeat without actual comprehension
Chinese Mandarin 反胃, 反芻 /反刍
- 反胃 (fǎnwèi)to throw up
- 反芻 /反刍 (fǎnchú)to cough up from gut to feed young chicks
Czech papouškovat
- papouškovatto repeat without actual comprehension
Dutch letterlijk herhalen
- letterlijk herhalento repeat without actual comprehension
Finnish oksentaa, antaa ylen
- oksentaato throw up
- antaa ylento throw up
- oksentaato cough up from gut to feed young chicks
- toistaa sanasta sanaanto repeat without actual comprehension
French régurgiter, régurgiter
- régurgiterto throw up
- régurgiterto repeat without actual comprehension
German regurgitieren, erbrechen
- regurgitierento throw up
- erbrechento throw up
- kotzento throw up
- wortwörtlich wiederholento repeat without actual comprehension
- wiederkäuento repeat without actual comprehension
Greek κάνω εμετό, αναμασώ
- κάνω εμετό (káno emetó)to throw up
- αναμασώ (anamasó)to cough up from gut to feed young chicks
- αναμασώ (anamasó)to repeat without actual comprehension
- αναμηρυκάζω (anamirykázo)to repeat without actual comprehension
Italian rigurgitare
- rigurgitareto throw up
Māori whakaruaki, whakaruaki
- whakaruakito throw up
- whakaruakito cough up from gut to feed young chicks
Russian отры́гивать, отрыгну́ть
- отры́гивать (otrýgivatʹ)to throw up
- отрыгну́ть (otrygnútʹ)to throw up
- сры́гивать (srýgivatʹ)to throw up
- срыгну́ть (srygnútʹ)to throw up
- рыга́ть (rygátʹ)to throw up
- рыгну́ть (rygnútʹ)to throw up
- блева́ть (blevátʹ)to throw up
Spanish regurgitar, regurgitar
- regurgitarto throw up
- regurgitarto cough up from gut to feed young chicks
- repetir textualmenteto repeat without actual comprehension
Cite this entry
regurgitate. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/regurgitate
“regurgitate.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/regurgitate. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “regurgitate,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/regurgitate.
Source: regurgitate on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.