What does "tame" mean?
To make (an animal) tame; to domesticate.
Tame
/teɪm/ adj, name, verb
adj, name, verb ·Common ·Middle school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: To make (an animal) tame; to domesticate.
- Grammar: tame is listed as adj, name, verb.
- Nearest alternatives: abate, abeyant, acclimate, acclimatize.
- Useful contrasts: unbroken, aggravate, aggressive.
- Usage evidence: The birds are so tame they will eat from your hand.
How to use "tame"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "tame" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "tame" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "tame" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "tame" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "tame" is acting as adj, name, verb in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "abate" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "tame", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Verb
- 1 To make (an animal) tame; to domesticate. transitive
"He tamed the wild horse."
- 2 To broach or enter upon; to taste, as a liquor; to divide; to distribute; to deal out. UK, dialectal, obsolete
"In the time of famine he is the Joseph of the country, and keeps the poor from starving. Then he tameth his stacks of corn, which not his covetousness, but providence, hath reserved for time of need."
- 3 correct by punishment or discipline wordnet
- 4 To make submissive or docile. transitive
"The governor tames the engine."
- 5 make fit for cultivation, domestic life, and service to humans wordnet
Show 6 more definitions
- 6 To take control of something that is unruly. transitive
"Police have to tame the riots."
- 7 overcome the wildness of; make docile and tractable wordnet
- 8 To become tame or domesticated. intransitive
"Tambourines are shy birds and do not tame easily."
- 9 adapt (a wild plant or unclaimed land) to the environment wordnet
- 10 To make gentle or meek. transitive
"Guard dogs need to be tamed so that they know who not to attack."
- 11 make less strong or intense; soften wordnet
Adjective
- 1 Accustomed to human contact.
- 2 Docile or tranquil towards humans.
"The lion was quite tame."
- 3 Of a person, well-behaved; not radical or extreme. figuratively
"What, for example, were Fraunhofer's lines? McArdle had just been studying the matter with the aid of our tame scientist at the office, and he picked from his desk two of those many-coloured spectral bands which bear a general resemblance to the hat-ribbons of some young and ambitious cricket club."
- 4 Of a non-Westernised person, accustomed to European society. obsolete
"The victim was Captain Bickenson, who had gone there from Port Darwin to try the pearling grounds, and for this purpose employed a number of tame blacks about the schooner."
- 5 Not exciting.
"This party is too tame for me."
Show 2 more definitions
- 6 Crushed; subdued; depressed; spiritless.
"tame slaves of the laborious plough"
- 7 Capable of being represented as a finite closed polygonal chain.
Adjective
- 1 flat and uninspiring wordnet
- 2 very docile wordnet
- 3 brought from wildness into a domesticated state wordnet
- 4 very restrained or quiet wordnet
Proper Noun
- 1 A surname transferred from the nickname.
- 2 A river in the West Midlands, Warwickshire and Staffordshire, England, a tributary to the Trent.
- 3 A river in Greater Manchester, England, which joins the River Goyt at Stockport, then becoming the River Mersey.
Antonyms
Example
"The birds are so tame they will eat from your hand."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "tame"?
Common synonyms include: abate, abeyant, acclimate, acclimatize, accommodate, accustom.
How do you use "tame" in a sentence?
The birds are so tame they will eat from your hand.
How do you pronounce "tame"?
Pronounced /teɪm/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle English tame, tome, weak inflection forms of Middle English tam, tom, from Old English tam, tom (“domesticated, tame”), from Proto-West Germanic *tam (“tame”), from Proto-Germanic *tamaz (“brought into the home, tame”), from Proto-Indo-European *demh₂- (“to tame, dominate”). Cognate with Scots tam, tame (“tame”), Saterland Frisian tom (“tame”), West Frisian tam (“tame”), Dutch tam (“tame”), Low German Low German tamm, tahm (“tame”), German zahm (“tame”), Danish tam (“tame”), Swedish tam (“tame”), Icelandic tamur (“tame”). The verb is from Middle English tamen, temen, temien, from Old English temian (“to tame”), from Proto-West Germanic *tammjan, from Proto-Germanic *tamjaną (“to tame”).
Etymology 2
From Middle English tamen (“to cut into, broach”). Compare French entamer.
Etymology 3
English surname, from the adjective Middle English tame as a nickname, and in some cases a habitational surname from Thame in Oxfordshire.