adj, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Verb

1. 1
   To examine or otherwise explore through touch, particularly (medicine) in reference to an area or organ of the human body.

   "I palpated his expired heart."

2. 2
   examine (a body part) by palpation wordnet

Adjective

1. 1
   Of palp, or having palp. not-comparable

Synonyms

All synonyms

feelfingerflickhandlemanipulatemassage

Example

More examples

"Zera showed her students how to palpate the carotid artery without pressing too hard."

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin palpātus, perfect passive participle of palpō (“touch softly”).

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.