Communicate

v. t. [imp. & p. p. COMMUNICATED; p. pr. & vb. n. COMMUNICATING.] [Lat. communicatus, p. p. of communicare, from communis, common; Fr. communiquer, Pr. & Sp. comunicar, It. comunicare.]

1Sense 1. To share in common; to participate in. [Obs.] “To thousands that communicate our loss.” B. Jon.

2Sense 2. To impart for joint or common possession; to bestow; to confer.

Where God is worshiped, there he communicates his blessings and holy influences. Bp. Taylor.

3Sense 3. To impart, reveal, or give, as information.

They read all they would communicate to their hearers. Watts.

This verb was formerly followed by with before the person receiving, but now usually takes to after it. “He communicated those thoughts only with the Lord Digby.” Clarendon.

Synonyms— To impart; bestow; confer; reveal; disclose; make known. — TO COMMUNICATE, IMPART, REVEAL. Communicate is the generic term, and denotes the allowing of others to partake or enjoy in common with ourselves. Impart is more specific;—it is giving to others a part of what we had held as our own, or making them our partners; as, to impart our feelings, to impart of our property, &c. Hence there is something more intimate in imparting intelligence than in communicating it. To reveal is to disclose something hidden or concealed; as, to reveal a secret.

v. i. 1. To share or participate; to possess or enjoy in common with others.

Ye have well done that ye did communicate with my affliction. Phil. iv. 14.

2Sense 2. To have intercourse or the means of intercourse;—generally followed by with. “Subjects suffered to communicate and to have intercourse of traffic.” Hackluyt.

The whole body is nothing but a system of such canals, which all communicate with one another. Arbuthnot.

3Sense 3. To partake of the Lord’s supper.

The primitive Christians communicated every day. Bp. Taylor.