ENGLISH THESAURUS & DICTIONARY

mate

noun · verb

Words like mate

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104 words · noun, verbSort by

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MEANING & USAGE

Definitions & examples

01noun

the officer below the master on a commercial ship

02noun

a fellow member of a team

“it was his first start against his former teammates”

03noun

the partner of an animal (especially a sexual partner)

“he loved the mare and all her mates”

“camels hate leaving their mates”

04noun

a person's partner in marriage

9 more meanings

05noun

an exact duplicate

“when a match is found an entry is made in the notebook”

06noun

one of a pair

“he lost the mate to his shoe”

“one eye was blue but its fellow was brown”

07noun

South American holly; leaves used in making a drink like tea

08noun

informal term for a friend of the same sex

09noun

South American tea-like drink made from leaves of a South American holly called mate

10noun

a chess move constituting an inescapable and indefensible attack on the opponent's king

11verb

engage in sexual intercourse

“Birds mate in the spring”

12verb

bring two objects, ideas, or people together

“This fact is coupled to the other one”

“Matchmaker, can you match my daughter with a nice young man?”

13verb

place an opponent's king under an attack from which it cannot escape and thus ending the game

“Kasparov checkmated his opponent after only a few moves”

Meanings and examples from Open English WordNet 2025. About our sources ↗

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Expressions with “mate”

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Explore multiword dictionary entries containing this word. Each has its own meanings and related words.

soul mate first mate running mate sparring mate