incubate
3 synonyms for incubate, grouped by meaning and by how common each one is.
Verb — To keep eggs, organisms or living tissue under the right environmental conditions in order to hatch, grow or sustain them.
Synonyms
Everyday swaps
Common words most readers know — safe in any writing.
Less common
Still standard English, but they carry more weight.
Etymology
First attested in 1641; borrowed from Latin incubātus, an alternative to incubitus, perfect passive participle of incubō (“to hatch”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from in- (“in”) + cubō (“to lie”).
Full origin of incubate →