domestication

UK: /dəˌmɛstɪˈkeɪʃ^ən/ US: /dəˌmɛstɪˈkeɪʃən/

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

do•mes•ti•cate /dəˈmɛstɪˌkeɪt/   v. [~ + object] , -cat•ed, -cat•ing. 

1. Animal Husbandry, Animal Behavior to tame (an animal):
   If you domesticate that raccoon, it will have trouble living in the wild.
2. Botany to change or adapt (a plant) so as to be cultivated by and beneficial to human beings.
3. to make (someone) become accustomed to life in a household:
   I was fully domesticated by then, taking out the garbage and washing the dishes.

do•mes•ti•ca•tion /dəˌmɛstɪˈkeɪʃən/  n. [uncountable]

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

do•mes•ti•cate  (də mes′ti kāt′), v., -cat•ed, -cat•ing. 
v.t. 

1. Animal Husbandry, Animal Behavior to convert (animals, plants, etc.) to domestic uses; tame.
2. Animal Husbandry, Animal Behavior to tame (an animal), esp. by generations of breeding, to live in close association with human beings as a pet or work animal and usually creating a dependency so that the animal loses its ability to live in the wild.
3. Botany to adapt (a plant) so as to be cultivated by and beneficial to human beings.
4. to accustom to household life or affairs.
5. to take (something foreign, unfamiliar, etc.) for one's own use or purposes;
   adopt.
6. to make more ordinary, familiar, acceptable, or the like:
   to domesticate radical ideas.

v.i. 

7. to be domestic.

• Medieval Latin domesticātus (past participle of domesticāre), equivalent. to domestic- domestic + -ātus -ate¹
• 1635–45

do•mes•ti•ca•ble  (də mes′ti kə bəl), adj.  do•mes′ti•ca′tion, n. 
do•mes′ti•ca′tive, adj. 
do•mes′ti•ca′tor, n.