How to Use defecate in a Sentence

defecate

verb
  • The bear does not eat, drink or defecate during this time.
    — Gloria Dickie, Outside, 24 Sep. 2025
  • They are also known to use these water sources as places to defecate.
    — The Arizona Republic, 25 Jan. 2024
  • The chief has pulled his pants down and defecated on the floor in front of his entire staff.
    — Harpers Magazine, 18 June 2025
  • There were so few toilets in town that people were defecating in the open.
    — New York Times, 10 July 2018
  • The waits for toilets were so long that men defecated in the showers.
    — Eric Lach, The New Yorker, 13 Oct. 2023
  • So how did George end up defecating in your cat’s litter box?
    — Michael Schulman, New Yorker, 11 May 2025
  • There was no room to move; prisoners had to urinate and defecate right there.
    — Patrick Saunders, The Denver Post, 5 Mar. 2017
  • Dayana’s young son witnessed the arrests and wasn’t able to defecate for weeks after.
    — Gisela Salim-Peyer, The Atlantic, 10 Apr. 2025
  • These moths hitch a ride to the forest floor during the sloth's once-a-week climb down from the canopy to defecate.
    — Elizabeth Preston, Discover Magazine, 3 Apr. 2015
  • That species, while not venomous, often bites and defecates a foul-smelling musk when handled.
    — John Wilkerson, STAT, 28 May 2026
  • The tear can cause pain and bleeding when defecating (pooping).
    — Brittany Dube, Health, 30 June 2024
  • The bears don’t eat, defecate or urinate while bundled up in their dens, but females give birth to cubs.
    — Theresa MacHemer, Smithsonian Magazine, 30 Sep. 2020
  • During a cleanup of his former office, the chief defecated in a trash can.
    — Harpers Magazine, 18 June 2025
  • First, my dog decided to defecate on her carpet in the living room.
    — Vincent Parker, Los Angeles Times, 8 Apr. 2022
  • Oh, and turkey vultures also urinate and defecate on their own legs to keep cool.
    — René A. Guzman, ExpressNews.com, 22 Sep. 2020
  • The four of them slept (head to toe), defecated and nursed the wounds of their beatings there for nearly a year.
    — Matt Gutman, ABC News, 17 Mar. 2025
  • My sources tell me that a service dog defecated on the carpet, and the owner did not clean it up.
    — Armstrong Williams, Baltimore Sun, 20 Mar. 2024
  • He would often be awoken in the night by his cellmates defecating.
    — Nico Lang, Them, 26 July 2024
  • Wolf mothers prompt their pups to urinate and defecate by licking their abdomens.
    — James Gorman, New York Times, 13 Oct. 2017
  • This is intercut with shots of villagers squatting in fields to defecate.
    — Liz Neisloss, CNN, 8 Sep. 2017
  • Worst of all was the man who defecated on the floor and said the cleaning fee should cover the cost of its removal.
    — Zoë Bernard, Los Angeles Times, 2 May 2023
  • Fiber from the new growth of grass and browse causes deer to defecate more frequently—up to 27 times a day.
    — Jace Bauserman, Outdoor Life, 2 Dec. 2019
  • Kleinman said residents should not have to see people urinate and defecate in the streets.
    — Kevin Krause, Dallas News, 11 Aug. 2020
  • In the clip, the pilot announced that someone on board had defecated in the plane’s front toilet.
    — Bailey Richards, Peoplemag, 17 Oct. 2023
  • Your cat might be fine with peeing on clay litter but prefer to defecate in a box filled with sandy clumping litter.
    — Star Tribune, 29 Jan. 2021
  • Robinson and Martin might have invited me to defecate in my hat.
    — Scott Ostler, San Francisco Chronicle, 28 Mar. 2021
  • As Harmon made his way through the store, the horse defecated on the floor multiple times.
    — Ashley Vega, PEOPLE, 15 Jan. 2026
  • At one protest, people pretended to defecate on a photo of Mao.
    — Barbara Demick, The New York Review of Books, 3 Nov. 2020
  • Then, the crews have horses walk along the beach line first in case the horses need to defecate before getting in the water.
    — Miami Herald, 2 Sep. 2025
  • The dog was seen defecating by a resident, who said the man walked away without cleaning up after the dog.
    — cleveland, 21 Feb. 2020

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'defecate.' 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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