gurgitate means to surge (rise) and fall ebulliently, like or as water. It carries an Arena rating of 1665, earned across 13 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, gurgitate ranks #79 of 13,226 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound, #249 of 13,226 for Funniest Words, #465 of 13,226 for The Improbable, #726 of 13,226 for Most Satisfying to Say.
Why “gurgitate” is a great word
To surge and fall in a tumultuous, bubbling manner, or to consume with a competitive and rapacious haste. From Latin gurgitātus, past participle of gurgitō ('to engulf, flood, swallow'); first attested in English in 1656, its modern, gluttonous sense is partly a back-formation from regurgitate. Unlike regurgitate (which specifically means to bring swallowed matter back up) or surge (a more general, directional push), to gurgitate is to churn turbulently at the source or to swallow with a voracious, almost violent momentum. It is the thick, roiling boil of a volcanic mud-pot, the frantic, sloshing chaos of a floodwater swallowing a gutter, or the sight of a contestant forcing down hot dogs in a grotesque parody of hunger—a word that embodies the disturbing energy where consumption and chaos become one audible, messy act.
Etymology
From Latin gurgitātus, past participle of gurgitō. The second sense is partly a back-formation from regurgitate.
verb
- To surge (rise) and fall ebulliently, like or as water.“From the gorge a faint steam rose like mist, and in the utter stillness I could hear, far down, the sound of gurgitating waters. In a little while - how long I could not tell - the moment of eruption would return and flood the chasm.”
- To eat, especially to eat competitively (see competitive eating).“His attitude to statistics can best be indicated by an expression that seems not to have been used in any of the classics, but which involves the idea that he masticates, and gurgitates them before life is extinct.”
Words closest in meaning
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