irrigate

American  

[ir-i-geyt] / ˈɪr ɪˌgeɪt /

verb (used with object)

• irrigates,
  present (3rd person singular)
• irrigated,
  past participle,  past
• irrigating
  present participle

1. to supply (land) with water by artificial means, as by diverting streams, flooding, or spraying.

2. Medicine/Medical. to supply or wash (an orifice, wound, etc.) with a spray or a flow of some liquid.

3. to moisten; wet.

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irrigate British  

/ ˈɪrɪˌɡeɪt /

verb

1. to supply (land) with water by means of artificial canals, ditches, etc, esp to promote the growth of food crops

2. med to bathe or wash out a bodily part, cavity, or wound

3. (tr) to make fertile, fresh, or vital by or as if by watering

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• irrigation
  noun
• irrigator
  noun
• overirrigate
  verb (used with object)
• reirrigate
  verb (used with object)
• irrigable
  adjective
• irrigational
  adjective
• nonirrigated
  adjective
• nonirrigating
  adjective
• unirrigated
  adjective
• well-irrigated
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• irrigating
  present
• irrigated
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• irrigate
  simple
• irrigates
  simple
• have irrigated
  perfect
• has irrigated
  perfect
• am irrigating
  progressive
• are irrigating
  progressive
• is irrigating
  progressive
• have been irrigating
  perfect progressive
• has been irrigating
  perfect progressive

Past

• irrigated
  simple
• had irrigated
  perfect
• was irrigating
  progressive
• were irrigating
  progressive
• had been irrigating
  perfect progressive

Future

• will irrigate
  simple
• will have irrigated
  perfect
• will be irrigating
  progressive
• will have been irrigating
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of irrigate

1605–15; < Latin irrigātus, past participle of irrigāre to wet, flood, nourish with water, equivalent to ir- ir- ¹ + rigā- (stem of rigāre to provide with water, soak) + -tus past participle suffix

Explanation

To irrigate is to supply with water, usually with ditches and channels that allow the water to flow. Irrigating is a type of watering that is important in one field in particular: farming. If a farmer has a huge number of crops, you can see how getting water to them could be difficult. The farmer irrigates by digging little channels that allow hard-to-reach spots to receive water. If there is a drought, irrigating will have to happen often to save the crops. People with large gardens might need to irrigate as well. Irrigating waters plants, keeping them alive.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

irrigate irrigates irrigated irrigating

If he was to irrigate all his crops to keep them alive, the costs would be so high his cauliflowers, spuds and carrots would be far pricier than supermarket alternatives.

From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026

A water source gets contaminated in some way, and that water is then used to irrigate a field.

From Slate ● Jul. 17, 2026

Built to provide electricity for the southwestern United States and to irrigate Nevada, it was the great cause of Herbert Hoover.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 27, 2026

With practically no fuel left, he is finding it ever harder to harvest and irrigate his crops, relying for power mainly on a solar panel provided by the state.

From Barron's ● Feb. 17, 2026

Tiwanaku let the water through, but took enough to irrigate more than seven hundred acres of terraces.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann

But thousands of men were pouring into Redding to build the dam — a 602-foot concrete behemoth that irrigates millions of acres of Central Valley farmland — and they sure worked up an appetite.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 7, 2026

A water system irrigates the plants via a nutrient substrate, a liquid fertiliser that replaces the nutrients and minerals naturally present in the soil.

From Barron's ● Feb. 17, 2026

Nearby, water pumped from the Ogallala Aquifer irrigates fields of peanuts and cotton.

From Salon ● May 7, 2024

And because most pumped groundwater irrigates crops, major declines in availability could lead to a global food crisis.

From Scientific American ● Oct. 25, 2023

This overflow of the Nile irrigates the country for a long distance from its banks, and makes them very fruitful.

From What We Saw in Egypt by Anonymous

Past outbreaks have occurred when people consumed fruits or vegetables irrigated with water contaminated by faeces.

From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2026

Janssen explained that 200 units of nitrogen are used per acre of irrigated corn.

From Salon ● Apr. 25, 2026

Neat rows of collard greens and kale stretch across irrigated beds, while orchards of peach trees — the ranch’s signature fruit — appear throughout the property.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 27, 2026

The property features three creeks that “meander through the ranch for over five miles,” as well as irrigated meadows and “historic water rights irrigating 1,200 acres.”

From MarketWatch ● Dec. 23, 2025

I enjoyed looking at the countryside, all colored for me by contrast with Haiti’s—the electric power wires, the irrigated fields.

From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French

Christine Devin, who arrived in 1974 after travelling overland on the hippie trail from Paris, remembers digging wells, irrigating the land and everyone pitching in to build houses and communal buildings like the solar kitchen.

From Barron's ● Jun. 25, 2026

The study, published in Environmental Science and Technology, is part of a broader effort to understand the safety of irrigating crops with municipal wastewater.

From Science Daily ● Mar. 15, 2026

The property features three creeks that “meander through the ranch for over five miles,” as well as irrigated meadows and “historic water rights irrigating 1,200 acres.”

From MarketWatch ● Dec. 23, 2025

He had to start irrigating his fields in March.

From BBC ● May 14, 2025

Men, irrigating in the silver fields, paused, leaning contemplatively on their shovel handles, to listen.

From "The Milagro Beanfield War" by John Nichols

Related Words

• inundate
• soak