verb

hibernate

HEYE-buh-nayt

verb

For an animal to spend winter in a dormant, low-energy state.

"Bears hibernate through the coldest months of the year."

"Some frogs hibernate buried in mud at the bottom of a pond."

For a computer to enter a power-saving mode that saves its current state to disk.

"Set the laptop to hibernate instead of shutting down completely."

How to Use Hibernate

Learner’s notes

In plain EnglishTo go dormant for a long stretch — either an animal sleeping through winter, or a computer saving its state and powering down.

Common pairings

hibernate for the winter hibernate mode

hibernated past tense, hibernates singular

Study it as flashcards or scroll it in Flow — saved to your collection.

Can you complete this real example?

Bears _____ through the coldest months of the year.

From Latin "hibernatus," the past participle of "hiberno" ("to winter"), from "hibernus" meaning "wintry."

ate date rate mate fate gate hate pate late Nate Kate cate