From the participle stem of Latin participare, from particeps ("taking part in, sharing in"), from pars ("part") + capiō ("to take"); see part and capable.

• (RP) IPA: /pɑːˈtɪsɪpeɪt/
• (America) enPR: pär-tĭsʹə-pāt, IPA: /pɑɹˈtɪsəpeɪt/
• (RP) IPA: /pɑːˈtɪsɪpət/
• (America) enPR: pär-tĭsʹə-pət, IPA: /pɑɹˈtɪsəpət/

participate (participates, present participle participating; simple past and past participle participated)

1. (intransitive) To join in, to take part, to involve oneself (in something). [from 16th c.]
2. (obsolete, transitive) To share, to take part in (something). [16th]
   • c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act V, scene i]:

     A spirit I am indeed;
     But am in that dimension grossly clad
     Which from the womb I did participate.

   • 1638, Thomas Herbert, Some Yeares Travels Into Africa & Asia the Great‎, London: Jacob Blome and Richard Bishop, Book I, p. 52:

     [The Persees] are tollerated all sorts of meat; but (in obedience to the Mahomitan and Bannyan ’mongst whom they live) refraine Beefe and Hog flesh: they seldome feed together, lest they might participate one anothers impurity: each has his owne cup […] .

   • 1803, Robert Charles Dallas, The History of the Maroons‎, London: Longman and Rees, Volume 1, Letter 4, p. 109:

     In what country on the globe is it, that in the class of mankind doomed to labour, we shall not find tribes, the women of which participate the toils of the men?

3. (obsolete) To share (something) with others; to transfer (something) to or unto others. [16th]
   • 1661, Thomas Salusbury, Galilaeus Galilaeus Lyncaeus, His Systeme of the World, Second Dialogue, in Mathematical Collections and Translations, London, p. 105,

     Make the Earth […] turn round its own axis in twenty four hours, and towards the same point with all the other Spheres; and without participating this same motion to any other Planet or Star, all shall have their risings, settings, and in a word, all their other appearances.

• participant
• participation
• participative
• participator

• participatory
• participial
• participle

• French: participer (à) (to participate (in)), prendre part
• German: teilnehmen (an) (to participate (in)), beteiligen
• Italian: partecipare (a) (to participate (in))
• Portuguese: participar
• Russian: уча́ствовать
• Spanish: participar

participate (not comparable)

1. (obsolete) Acting in common; participating.
   • c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act I, scene i], line 101:

     And, mutually participate, did minister
     Unto the appetite and affection common
     Of the whole body.