To make a female pregnant, or to soak or fill something thoroughly with a substance.
From Latin 'impregnare,' combining 'im-' meaning 'in' with 'praegnans' meaning 'pregnant.' The meaning extended from biological reproduction to mean thoroughly saturating anything with a substance.
The word works the same way for chemicals as for biology—when you impregnate wood with waterproofing, you're flooding it completely with the substance, just like pregnancy floods the body with hormones.
Primarily applied to women's reproductive role in everyday discourse, creating asymmetric language where male contribution is unnamed. Reinforces historical erasure of male biology as active.
In reproductive contexts, use 'conceive,' 'become pregnant,' or 'fertilize' depending on specificity. For non-reproductive uses ('impregnate with dye'), the term is neutral.
["fertilize","conceive","become pregnant"]
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