tame
/teim/
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
Adjective:
- Domesticated, not wild: Describes an animal that has been trained to live with or be controlled by humans, losing its natural fear and aggression.
- Docile, submissive: Describes a person or animal that is very gentle, obedient, and easily controlled.
- Uninteresting, dull: Describes something that lacks excitement, spirit, or interest; it is boring or flat.
Verb:
- To domesticate: To make a wild animal tame and suitable to live with humans.
- To subdue or control: To bring something under control, making it less powerful, intense, or wild.
- To cultivate: To adapt wild plants or land for agricultural use.
Usage Examples
Adjective:
- The farm had several tame rabbits that children could pet.
- After training, the dog became very tame and followed every command.
- The movie's plot was surprisingly tame and predictable.
Verb:
- It took years to tame the wild horse.
- She tried to tame her curly hair with a special brush.
- Pioneers worked to tame the wilderness and build farms.
Advanced Usage
"To tame one's tongue": To control what one says, to avoid speaking harshly or impulsively.
- He had to learn to tame his tongue during business negotiations.
"A tame version": A less intense, shocking, or controversial version of something.
- The newspaper published a tame version of the scandalous report.
Variants and Related Words
- Tamable/Tameable (adj): Capable of being tamed.
- Some experts believe that not all wild animals are tameable.
- Tamely (adv): In a tame manner.
- The protest ended tamely without any incidents.
- Tameness (n): The quality or state of being tame.
- The tameness of the zoo animals disappointed some visitors.
Synonyms
- Adjective: Domesticated, docile, subdued, mild, bland, unexciting.
- Verb: Domesticate, break in, subdue, master, soften, cultivate.
Related Phrasal Verbs
(Note: "Tame" is not commonly used in phrasal verb constructions. Its meanings are typically expressed directly.)
Related Idioms
- "Tame as a pussycat": Extremely gentle and harmless.
- Don't be scared of him; he's tame as a pussycat.
- "To tame the shrew": To subdue or bring a strong-willed, unruly person (especially a woman) under control. (From Shakespeare's ).
- His friends joked that marrying her would be his attempt to tame the shrew.
Adjective
- very docile
- tame obedience
- meek as a mouse- Langston Hughes
- brought from wildness into a domesticated state
- tame animals
- fields of tame blueberries
- very restrained or quiet
- a tame Christmas party
- she was one of the tamest and most abject creatures imaginable with no will or power to act but as directed
- flat and uninspiring
Verb
- make fit for cultivation, domestic life, and service to humans
- The horse was domesticated a long time ago
- The wolf was tamed and evolved into the house dog
- overcome the wildness of; make docile and tractable
- He tames lions for the circus
- reclaim falcons
- adapt (a wild plant or unclaimed land) to the environment
- domesticate oats
- tame the soil
- make less strong or intense; soften
- Tone down that aggressive letter
- The author finally tamed some of his potentially offensive statements
- correct by punishment or discipline