How do you use the word "mate" in a sentence?

Here are real-life examples of using "mate": Where is the mate to this sock? If you mate a horse with an ass you will get a mule.

Mate Meaning

/meɪt/

Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

Definition

nounA fellow, comrade, colleague, partner or someone with whom something is shared, e.g. shipmate, classmate.

nounA breeding partner.

Sentence Examples

Where is the mate to this sock?

If you mate a horse with an ass you will get a mule.

Do foxes ever mate with dogs?

Synonyms & Antonyms

Synonyms:

teammate twin match

Antonyms:

None

CEFR Practice Quiz

The experienced sailor asked his trusted ____ to navigate through the dangerous storm.

CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)

The giant panda spent months searching for a ____ in the dense bamboo forests of central China.

Word Origin & History

From Middle English mate, a borrowing from Middle Low German mate (“messmate”) (replacing Middle English mett, mette (“table companion, mate, partner”), from Old English ġemetta (“sharer of food, table-guest”)), from Old Saxon gimato, derived from Proto-Germanic *gamatjô, itself from *ga- (“together”) (related to German and Dutch ge-) + *matjô (from *matiz (“food”)), related to Old English mete (“food”)). From the same Middle Low German source stems German Low German Maat (“journeyman, companion”), German Maat (“naval non-commissioned officer”). Cognates include Saterland Frisian Moat (“friend, buddy, comrade, mate”), Dutch maat (“mate, partner, colleague, friend”). More at Old English ġe-, English co-, English meat. Doublet of maat. Compare typologically Latin compāniō (whence companion) (< con- + panis + -ō), Russian однока́шник (odnokášnik) (< одно- (odno-) + ка́ша (káša) + -ник (-nik)).

Literary Quotations & Historical Citations

"A "mate" was a "mate" - share and share alike, no matter how bad might be the times, or how long a spell of ill luck had attended them." — 1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 152:

"Such overt displays of avowed sexual prowess – or at least, desperate availability – are not limited to the countryside. Even in the city, birds and animals and stockbrokers and nurses find ways of signalling their suitability as a mate." — 2015 April 16, Richard P. Grant, “Sex and the successful fundraiser”, in The Guardian:

"Ye knew me once no mate / For you; there sitting where you durst not soar." — 1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

"“In fact, the apes live with us, and have for many ages. We call them the first men—we speak their language quite as much as we do our own; only in the rituals of the temple do we make any attempt to retain our mother tongue. In time it will be forgotten, and we will speak only the language of the apes; in time we will no longer banish those of our people who mate with apes, and so in time we shall descend to the very beasts from which ages ago our progenitors may have sprung.”" — 1913, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Return of Tarzan, New York: Ballantine Books, published 1963, page 172:

"If she be mated with an equal husband." — 1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:

Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words