Pronounce = /MAS ti kayt/
Grammar category – Verb
To masticate is to chew your food or to bite and grind stuff with your teeth.
Mastication or chewing is the process by which food is crushed and ground by teeth. It is the first step of digestion, and it increases the surface area of foods to allow more efficient break down by enzymes. During the mastication process, the food is positioned by the cheek and tongue between the teeth for grinding. [Definitition from Wikipedia]
To chew, grind, or pulverize food inside the mouth using the teeth and jaws until it becomes soft and liquid before letting it go down the throat and into the stomach: “Tina told her children that they should masticate their food well before swallowing it and not to just gobble and gulp it down!”
See one more definition at Merriam-Webster
2. “when we masticate more, food is broken down better before it gets to our stomach, so it is more easily digested.” Washington PostJun 13, 2016
Chew, munch, crunch, chomp, grind pulverize, manducate, gnaw