incubate

Meaning

1. (transitive) To brood, raise, or maintain eggs, organisms, or living tissue through the provision of ideal environmental conditions.
2. (figuratively, transitive) To incubate metaphorically; to ponder an idea slowly and deliberately as if in preparation for hatching it.

Synonyms

brood

hatch

sit

🪑

hatch eggs

breed

nurture

set

cover

farm

ferment

foment

harbor

harbour

broad

mull

culture

plan

plaster

raise

roost

cause to hatch

brew

work

sit on

crop

cultivate

dwell

Translations

couver

incuber

incubar

ausbrüten

broeden

koesteren

empollar

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈɪŋkjʊbeɪt/

Etymology

From Latin incubātus, past participle of incubō (“to hatch”), from in- (“on”) + cubō (“to lie”).