Definition of "communicate"

To impart

1. (transitive) To impart or transmit (information or knowledge) to someone; to make known, to tell.  examples

2. (transitive) To impart or transmit (an intangible quantity, substance); to give a share of.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • Where God is worshipped, there he communicates his blessings and holy influences.

     1660, Jeremy Taylor, The Worthy Communicant; or a Discourse of the Nature, Effects, and Blessings consequent to the worthy receiving of the Lords Supper

3. (transitive) To pass on (a disease) to another person, animal etc.  examples

To share

1. (transitive, obsolete) To share (in); to have in common, to partake of.  quotations

   Quotations

   • thousands that communicate our loss

     1603 (first performance; published 1605), Benjamin Jonson [i.e., Ben Jonson], “Seianus his Fall. A Tragœdie. […]”, in The Workes of Ben Jonson (First Folio), London: […] Will[iam] Stansby, published 1616

2. (intransitive, Christianity) To receive the bread and wine at a celebration of the Eucharist; to take part in Holy Communion.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • It seems that now [the Devil] was driving Alison hard. She had been remiss of late — fewer souls sent to hell, less zeal in quenching the Spirit, and, above all, the crowning offense that her bairn had communicated in Christ's kirk.

     1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide

   • The ‘better sort’ might communicate on a separate day; and in some parishes even the quality of the communion wine varied with the social quality of the recipients.

     1971, Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, Folio Society, published 2012, page 148

3. (transitive, Christianity) To administer the Holy Communion to (someone).  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • She [the church] […] may communicate him.

     1660, Jeremy Taylor, The Worthy Communicant; or a Discourse of the Nature, Effects, and Blessings consequent to the worthy receiving of the Lords Supper

4. (intransitive) To express or convey ideas, either through verbal or nonverbal means; to have intercourse, to exchange information.  examples

5. (intransitive) To be connected with (another room, vessel etc.) by means of an opening or channel.  examples