vegetate

Verb
US[vej-uh-teyt]/ˈvɛdʒəˌteɪt/3 syllables
Synonyms: veg out

Open English WordNet

Verb (7)vegetated, vegetating

  1. lead a passive existence without using one's body or mindMore general live
  2. establish vegetation on“They vegetated the hills behind their house”More general grow
  3. produce vegetation“The fields vegetate vigorously”More general grow
  4. grow like a plant“This fungus usually vegetates vigorously”More general grow
  5. grow or spread abnormally“warts and polyps can vegetate if not removed”More general grow
  6. propagate asexually“The bacterial growth vegetated along”More general propagate
  7. engage in passive relaxation“After a hard day's work, I vegetate in front of the television”Synonyms: veg out

Related words vegetative adjective, vegetation noun, botany noun

Word of the day · Nov 10About this word
hiatusnoun

What does it mean? Question 1 of today’s quiz

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Webster's Dictionary (1913)

Veg′e·tate intransitive verb [past tense & past participle Vegetated; present participle & verbal noun Vegetating.]

Origin: L. vegetatus, p. p. of vegetare to enliven. See Vegetable.

1. To grow, as plants, by nutriment imbibed by means of roots and leaves; to start into growth; to sprout; to germinate.

See dying vegetables life sustain, See life dissolving vegetate again.— Alexander Pope

2. Fig.: To lead a life too low for an animate creature; to do nothing but eat and grow. William Cowper

Persons who... would have vegetated stupidly in the places where fortune had fixed them.— Lord Francis Jeffrey

3. Medicine To grow exuberantly; to produce fleshy or warty outgrowths; as, a vegetating papule.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54

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