adj. 1
Not exciting.
This party is too tame for me.
v. 1
To make or become tame; to domesticate (an animal).
v. 2
To make submissive.
The governor tames the engine.
v. 3
To take control of something that is unruly.
Police have to tame the riots.

Related words

Word family: tameness tamable tameless

Forms

Past participle: tamed
e.g. tamed → subdued, breaked, chastened, softened…

Choose the right word

or Tame?

Gentle describes the natural disposition; tame, that which is subdued by training; mild implies a temper which is, by nature, not easily provoked; meek, a spirit which has been schooled to mildness by discipline or suffering. The lamb is gentle; the domestic fowl is tame; John, the Apostle, was mild; Moses was meek.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Example sentences

mild Spring brings mild weather after the cold winter.
subdued The policemen subdued Tom and handcuffed him.
insipid Water tastes insipid after it has been boiled.
unexciting I find the everyday life unexciting.
domesticated The animals which live on farms are domesticated.
toothless I cannot chew anything. I am toothless.

Popularity over time

Word	1850 → 2019	Trend
tame		rising
mild		steady
subdued		rising
insipid		steady
unexciting		steady
domesticated		rising

Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.

By length

4 letters: flat¹, mild¹, dull¹, meek¹
5 letters: break¹, bland¹, vapid²
6 letters: broken², gentle², humble², soften², feeble², subdue², docile², torpid²
7 letters: tedious³, subdued², reclaim², insipid³, prosaic³, languid², humdrum², chasten²
8 letters: domestic³, moderate³, lifeless², sluggish², tiresome³
9 letters: cultivate³, toothless², apathetic⁴, subjugate³
10 letters: submissive³, unexciting⁴, phlegmatic³, naturalize⁴, naturalise
11 letters: domesticate⁴, domesticise
12 letters: domesticated⁵
13 letters: uninteresting⁴

The small number after each word is its number of syllables (vapid² = 2 syllables).

In other languages

Français: apprivoisé