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Definition of tame adjective from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

tame

adjective
 
/teɪm/
 
/teɪm/
(comparative tamer, superlative tamest)
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  1. (of animals, birds, etc.) not afraid of people, and used to living with them
    • The bird became so tame that it was impossible to release it back into the wild.
    opposite wildTopics Animalsc2
    Oxford Collocations Dictionaryverbs
    • be
    • look
    • seem
    adverb
    • extremely
    • fairly
    • very
    See full entry
  2. (informal) not interesting or exciting
    • You'll find life here pretty tame after New York.
    Extra Examples
    • I found the violence in the film surprisingly tame.
    • Most of the jokes are relatively tame.
    • After what I've just been through, hitching a ride seems pretty tame stuff!
    • Such games must all sound rather tame to today's children.
    • living a life that makes Wild West movies look positively tame
    Oxford Collocations Dictionaryverbs
    • appear
    • be
    • look
    adverb
    • extremely
    • fairly
    • very
    See full entry
  3. (informal) (of a person) willing to do what other people ask
    • I have a tame doctor who'll always give me a sick note when I want a day off.
  4. Word OriginOld English tam (adjective), temmian (verb), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch tam and German zahm, from an Indo-European root shared by Latin domare and Greek daman ‘tame, subdue’.
See tame in the Oxford Advanced American Dictionary

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trait
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