plant

American  

[plant, plahnt] / plænt, plɑnt /

noun

plants plural

1. Botany. any member of the kingdom Plantae, comprising multicellular organisms that typically produce their own food from inorganic matter by the process of photosynthesis and that have more or less rigid cell walls containing cellulose, including vascular plants, mosses, liverworts, and hornworts: some classification schemes may include fungi, algae, bacteria, and certain single-celled eukaryotes that have plantlike qualities, as rigid cell walls or the use of photosynthesis.

2. an herb or other small vegetable growth, in contrast with a tree or a shrub.

3. a seedling or a growing slip, especially one ready for transplanting.

4. the equipment, including the fixtures, machinery, tools, etc., and often the buildings, necessary to carry on any industrial business.

   a manufacturing plant.

5. the complete equipment or apparatus for a particular mechanical process or operation.

   the heating plant for a home.

6. the buildings, equipment, etc., of an institution.

   the sprawling plant of the university.

7. Slang. something intended to trap, decoy, or lure, as criminals.

8. Slang. a scheme to trap, trick, swindle, or defraud.

9. a person, placed in an audience, whose rehearsed or prepared reactions, comments, etc., appear spontaneous to the rest of the audience.

10. a person placed secretly in a group or organization, as by a foreign government, to obtain internal or secret information, stir up discontent, etc.

11. Theater. a line of dialogue, or a character, action, etc., introducing an idea or theme that will be further developed at a later point in the play.

    Afterward we remembered the suicide plant in the second act.

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verb (used with object)

plants, present (3rd person singular) planted, past participle, past planting present participle

1. to put or set in the ground for growth, as seeds, young trees, etc.

2. to furnish or stock (land) with plants.

   to plant a section with corn.

3. to establish or implant (ideas, principles, doctrines, etc.).

   to plant a love for learning in growing children.

4. to introduce (a breed of animals) into a country.

5. to deposit (young fish, or spawn) in a river, lake, etc.

6. to bed (oysters).

7. to insert or set firmly in or on the ground or some other body or surface.

   to plant posts along a road.

8. Theater. to insert or place (an idea, person, or thing) in a play.

9. to place; put.

10. to place with great force, firmness, or determination.

    He planted himself in the doorway as if daring us to try to enter. He planted a big kiss on his son's cheek.

11. to station; post.

    to plant a police officer on every corner.

12. to locate; situate.

    Branch stores are planted all over.

13. to establish (a colony, city, etc.); found.

14. to settle (persons), as in a colony.

15. to say or place (something) in order to obtain a desired result, especially one that will seem spontaneous.

    The police planted the story in the newspaper in order to trap the thief.

16. Carpentry. to nail, glue, or otherwise attach (a molding or the like) to a surface.

17. to place (a person) secretly in a group to function as a spy or to promote discord.

18. Slang. to hide or conceal, as stolen goods.

plant ¹ British  

/ plɑːnt /

noun

1. any living organism that typically synthesizes its food from inorganic substances, possesses cellulose cell walls, responds slowly and often permanently to a stimulus, lacks specialized sense organs and nervous system, and has no powers of locomotion

2. such an organism that is green, terrestrial, and smaller than a shrub or tree; a herb

3. a cutting, seedling, or similar structure, esp when ready for transplantation

4. informal a thing positioned secretly for discovery by another, esp in order to incriminate an innocent person

5. billiards snooker a position in which the cue ball can be made to strike an intermediate which then pockets another ball

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verb

1. (often foll by out) to set (seeds, crops, etc) into (ground) to grow

2. to place firmly in position

3. to establish; found

4. to implant in the mind

5. slang to deliver (a blow)

6. informal to position or hide, esp in order to deceive or observe

7. to place (young fish, oysters, spawn, etc) in (a lake, river, etc) in order to stock the water

plant ² British  

/ plɑːnt /

noun

1. 1. the land, buildings, and equipment used in carrying on an industrial, business, or other undertaking or service

   2. ( as modifier )

      plant costs

2. a factory or workshop

3. mobile mechanical equipment for construction, road-making, etc

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plant Scientific  

/ plănt /

1. Any of a wide variety of multicellular eukaryotic organisms, belonging to the kingdom Plantae and including the bryophytes and vascular plants. Plant cells have cell walls made of cellulose. Except for a few specialized symbionts, plants have chlorophyll and manufacture their own food through photosynthesis. Most plants grow in a fixed location and reproduce sexually, showing an alternation of generations between a diploid stage (with each cell having two sets of chromosomes) and haploid stage (with each cell having one set of chromosomes) in their life cycle. The first fossil plants date from the Silurian period. Formerly the algae, slime molds, dinoflagellates, and fungi, among other groups, were classified as plants, but now these are considered to belong to other kingdoms.

2. See Table at taxonomy

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• subplant
  noun
• misplant
  verb (used with object)
• overplant
  verb (used with object)
• preplant
  verb (used with object)
• underplant
  verb (used with object)
• plantable
  adjective
• plantless
  adjective
• plantlike
  adjective
• self-planted
  adjective
• unplantable
  adjective
• unplanted
  adjective
• well-planted
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• plants
  plural

Participles

• planting
  present
• planted
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• plant
  simple
• plants
  simple
• have planted
  perfect
• has planted
  perfect
• am planting
  progressive
• are planting
  progressive
• is planting
  progressive
• have been planting
  perfect progressive
• has been planting
  perfect progressive

Past

• planted
  simple
• had planted
  perfect
• was planting
  progressive
• were planting
  progressive
• had been planting
  perfect progressive

Future

• will plant
  simple
• will have planted
  perfect
• will be planting
  progressive
• will have been planting
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of plant

First recorded before 900; Middle English noun plaunt(e), plant(e); in part continuing Old English plante “sapling, young plant,” from Latin planta “a shoot, sprig, scion (for planting), plant”; in part from Old French plante, from Latin planta; Middle English verb plaunten, planten; in part continuing Old English plantian, from Latin plantāre “to plant”; in part from Old French planter, from Latin plantāre

Explanation

A plant is a living thing that loves dirt, sun, and water but can’t move. That tree outside? Plant. Your dog? Not a plant. A plant can also be a factory, like a nuclear power plant. Trees, flowers, and vegetables are all plants, and you help them get started every time you plant a seed in soil. Another kind of plant is a factory or another business where goods are manufactured, and then there's the plant that means "spy or informer." The Latin root of plant is planta, "sprout or shoot," which may stem from plantare, "push into the ground with the feet," from planta, "sole of the foot."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

plant plants planted planting

Buzzy startup Figure AI already assembles robots at its plant in San Jose, California, and Agility has a factory in Salem, Oregon, where it can produce up to 10,000 robots annually.

From Barron's ● Jul. 28, 2026

The prefecture is also home to a Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. plant.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026

In 2011, Torness nuclear power station in East Lothian was even shut down as a precautionary measure due to huge numbers of jellyfish found in sea water entering the plant.

From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026

Japan is haunted by the memory of a massive 9.0-magnitude undersea quake in 2011, which triggered a tsunami that killed or left missing around 18,500 people and wrecked the Fukushima nuclear plant.

From Barron's ● Jul. 28, 2026

“It’s Lexie. I rescued your plant again. Are you up for a game of Scrabble today?”

From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam

They were all for clean energy, many to address climate change, and include investments in new battery plants, upgrades for the electrical grid and initiatives to take carbon out of the air.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026

Europe had seven TNT manufacturing plants and now has one.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026

Marcos offered no specifics about his atomic energy plans, the Philippines announced a deal with the United States in May 2024 to train Filipinos how to build and operate nuclear power plants.

From Barron's ● Jul. 27, 2026

More sulphate processing plants were expected to come on line by the time the ban on lithium concentrate exports comes into force in January 2027, he said.

From Barron's ● Jul. 26, 2026

There were plants to prop up that had toppled over in the wind, weeds to pull, strawberries to nibble, and a huge bunch of bananas just green enough to pick.

From "Nim’s Island" by Wendy Orr

Yurok revegetation crews culled invasive weeds and planted nearly half a million native seedlings across 50 species, including redwoods and black cottonwood.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026

Within the cables, Giaka places Megrahi in Malta - where the bomb was said to have been planted - at a key time in the Lockerbie plot.

From BBC ● Jul. 25, 2026

She said it was false “that an executive planted a code word to catch” Bisignano reading the email.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026

In Yangon's Thu Mingalar Park, an AFP reporter this week noted the absence of one towering likeness installed almost a decade ago, grass newly planted in its place.

From Barron's ● Jul. 18, 2026

“Well, I wouldn’t have been able to get this far with that map. Everything looks different. I wonder how big those koa saplings we planted are by now.”

From "Clairboyance" by Kristiana Kahakauwila

The Memorial Garden, hanging baskets along Victoria Street, flower displays at the Channel Islands' only railway station, and planting schemes at both the harbour and airport are among areas being showcased.

From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2026

The first tree planting action plan for Northern Ireland sets out 10 strategic actions over the next five years.

From BBC ● Jul. 7, 2026

Despite the findings, the researchers emphasize that people should continue planting flowers to support pollinators.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 7, 2026

They can be found planting trees, pulling weeds, painting flagpoles and picking up cigarette butts.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 5, 2026

From the cook stove where she was fixing our breakfast, Mama smiled and said, “Knowing how desperate you are to get the planting done, I’d say it was going to rain.”

From "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls

Related Words

• bury
• cover
• farm
• grow
• implant
• raise
• scatter
• sow
• transplant