Meaning & use
presentate
Last updated
Meaning
verbtransitiveinformal
A nonstandard word some people use instead of 'present', meaning to show, introduce or deliver something to an audience.
Grammar: Takes an object, but standard English uses present instead: present the findings, not presentate the findings.
Patterns
- presentate something to someone
- presentate something
Some speakers say they will presentate the quarterly results, although careful writers would choose present.
He wrote 'presentate' in his draft, and the editor changed it to 'present'.
If you hear someone say they must presentate a report on Friday, they simply mean they have to give it.
Word forms
| third person singular | presentates |
|---|---|
| past tense | presentated |
| past participle | presentated |
| -ing form | presentating |
Common combinations
- presentate a report
- She was asked to presentate a report, but the manager's email used the usual word present.
- presentate the results
- The student planned to presentate the results, which a teacher marked as a wording error.
- presentate a proposal
- Nobody corrected him when he said he would presentate a proposal at the meeting.
- avoid presentate
- In formal writing it is wise to avoid presentate and use present.
Synonyms and how they differ
- present
- Present is the standard verb and is accepted everywhere, while presentate marks the speaker as using a nonstandard form.
- deliver
- Deliver is a safe choice when the object is a talk or speech, whereas presentate is not accepted in careful English.
- introduce
- Introduce suggests bringing something or someone new to an audience, which is narrower than the general act of presenting.
Word family
- present verb
- the standard verb meaning to show or give formally
- presentation noun
- a talk or display given to an audience
- presenter noun
- a person who gives a talk or hosts a show
- presentable adjective
- neat enough to be seen by others
Commonly confused: presentate or present?
presentate vs present
Present is the correct verb in standard English. Presentate is a back-formation from presentation and is usually treated as an error.
Practice
Which sentence would a careful editor accept without changes?
Choose one answer.
Present is the standard verb. Presentate is nonstandard, and the other two options are the wrong word forms after 'will'.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “presentate”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.