How to Use mate in a Sentence

mate

1 of 2 verb
  • These adults can mate and lay eggs right away.
    — Markis Hill, Kansas City Star, 6 Mar. 2026
  • The two spiders would then go on to mate.
    — Irene Wright, Miami Herald, 9 Sep. 2025
  • All the wolves had left — but two, and those two were mated.
    — Frank Glaser, Outdoor Life, 1 Apr. 2026
  • These birds just show up for mating in the spring and summer.
    — Stacey Leasca, Travel + Leisure, 14 June 2023
  • Stray cats mate loudly in what used to be the office kitchen.
    — Charlie Dektar, New Yorker, 11 Nov. 2025
  • On the walk to the goal, Hampton gives her team-mate the ball.
    — Charlotte Harpur, New York Times, 13 Sep. 2025
  • When the sterile males mate with wild females, the eggs do not hatch.
    — Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 12 June 2026
  • The males, or drones, serve only one purpose, to mate with the queen.
    — Elizabeth Bass Parman, PEOPLE, 7 Sep. 2025
  • Winged, swarmer termites emerge from their current colonies to mate and start new ones close by.
    — Ana Durrani, USA Today, 9 Apr. 2026
  • The wings have to be mated to the body with gaps of five- to ten-thousandths of an inch.
    — Burkhard Bilger, New Yorker, 2 Mar. 2026
  • The noise attracts other males, who think there is a female ready to mate.
    — Emily Deletter, USA TODAY, 10 June 2024
  • The noise attracts other males, who think there is a female ready to mate.
    — USA TODAY, 4 Apr. 2024
  • Signs warned, caution deers mating.
    — Literary Hub, 14 Apr. 2026
  • This is where the grizzlies played, fought and mated in the summer months.
    — JSTOR Daily, 19 Nov. 2025
  • Of course, before these babies are born, the creatures must mate.
    — Max Bennett, Discover Magazine, 25 Jan. 2024
  • This means the bears are active year-round and able to mate and reproduce at any time.
    — Carlyn Kranking, Smithsonian Magazine, 3 Aug. 2023
  • The adults then mate and continue the cycle.
    — Dave Wessner, Forbes.com, 26 Aug. 2025
  • When these animals mate, a mule results.
    — Joshua Siskin, Oc Register, 7 May 2026
  • The brawny mill is mated to a bespoke six-speed manual for the first time.
    — Bryan Hood, Robb Report, 11 July 2023
  • The males, eager to mate, wait for the female to emerge shortly after them.
    — Kelli Bender, PEOPLE, 14 May 2026
  • In late winter to early spring, carpenter ants swarm to mate and start new colonies.
    — Arricca Elin Sansone, Southern Living, 20 Apr. 2026
  • In late winter to early spring, carpenter ants swarm to mate and start new colonies.
    — Arricca Elin Sansone, Southern Living, 22 Oct. 2025
  • There, the dragonflies will mate and females will lay their eggs before the end of their life.
    — Drew Dawson, Journal Sentinel, 7 Sep. 2023
  • Each spring, salmon migrate upstream from the ocean to the chilly headwaters of rivers to mate.
    — Gabe Allen, Discover Magazine, 30 Dec. 2023
  • The aim is for the sterile males to mate with females in the wild who then produce no offspring.
    — Fernando Llano, Chicago Tribune, 14 Aug. 2025
  • That same spring, Fe mated with an unnamed male and hatched her 40th chick.
    — Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian Magazine, 7 Aug. 2024
  • Once a brood climbs out of the ground, the cicadas crawl up trees to mate, and the females lay eggs in tree branches.
    — Carl Zimmer, New York Times, 24 Apr. 2024
  • The engine is mated to a four-speed transmission.
    — Robert Ross, Robb Report, 13 Feb. 2026
  • Females mate once in their short lives, and a female that pairs with a sterile male lays eggs that never hatch.
    — Gretchen Wittenmyer-Stone, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 16 June 2026
  • Parasites travel through the body into a vein in the intestines to mate and lay eggs.
    — Hayleigh Evans, The Arizona Republic, 22 Mar. 2024

mate

2 of 2 noun
  • His team-mates were shocked too.
    — Jordan Campbell, New York Times, 8 Apr. 2026
  • His speech moved his team-mates.
    — Laia Cervelló Herrero, New York Times, 15 Jan. 2026
  • Bugling for mates at dawn and dusk.
    — Joan Meiners, AZCentral.com, 27 Oct. 2025
  • Bugling for mates at dawn and dusk.
    — Shaun McKinnon, AZCentral.com, 4 Nov. 2025
  • Bugling for mates at dawn and dusk.
    — Shaun McKinnon, AZCentral.com, 28 Oct. 2025
  • And then a few of our mates left.
    — Charlie Warzel, The Atlantic, 13 Feb. 2026
  • Lucky to have this guy as my mate.
    — Melissa Fleur Afshar, MSNBC Newsweek, 16 Sep. 2025
  • The tears flowed as he was mobbed by his team-mates.
    — James Pearce, New York Times, 31 Jan. 2026
  • If one of the pair dies, a new mate is sought out.
    — Finch Walker, USA Today, 9 Apr. 2026
  • Here’s the video with Paul and his mates.
    — Pete Grathoff, Kansas City Star, 27 June 2026
  • Role play with your travel mate.
    — Maya Silver, Outside, 20 Jan. 2026
  • Maybe elk, a little space, a mate.
    — Sarah Henry, AZCentral.com, 28 Nov. 2025
  • His team-mates loved playing with him.
    — Roshane Thomas, New York Times, 30 Jan. 2026
  • He has been denied by his own team-mate.
    — Andy Jones, New York Times, 3 Mar. 2026
  • Six months of my life got taken away from me, mate.
    — Ryan Gaydos, FOXNews.com, 17 May 2026
  • Well done, mate, well deserved.
    — Liza Esquibias, PEOPLE, 5 Nov. 2025
  • The rare catch was also a first for the boat's mate.
    — Bri Buckley, CBS News, 20 Apr. 2026
  • Time to spark up some polite chit-chat with your lift mates.
    — Frederick Dreier, Outside, 2 Dec. 2025
  • But my closest mates on the team just make fun of me for it now.
    — Mitch Sherman, New York Times, 11 Sep. 2025
  • Their only goal is to attract a mate.
    — Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 2 June 2026
  • No team-mate has made more tackles (10).
    — Pol Ballús, New York Times, 17 Oct. 2025
  • They are then released to seek out wild females and mate.
    — Lila Seidman, Los Angeles Times, 4 June 2026
  • Chickens form friendships and mourn the loss of flock mates.
    — Arkansas Online, 2 Feb. 2026
  • Team-mates have described him as somewhat shy.
    — Chris McKenna, New York Times, 9 Oct. 2025
  • Work is changing and teams are evolving as agents join as team mates.
    — Keith Ferrazzi, Forbes.com, 27 May 2026
  • Our kind of tandem as battery-mates.
    — Gabrielle Starr, Boston Herald, 8 May 2026
  • When a wild female mates with a sterile male, her eggs won’t hatch.
    — Kimberly Miller, USA Today, 3 June 2026
  • When a wild female mates with a sterile male, her eggs won’t hatch.
    — Joe Wilkins, Futurism, 4 June 2026
  • The insects emerge from the ground to flash and mate for only a few weeks.
    — Pien Huang, NPR, 26 May 2024
  • In the vast emptiness of the deep sea, finding a mate is no small feat.
    — Scott Travers, Forbes, 30 Dec. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'mate.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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