sprout
Americanverb (used without object)
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sprouts,
present (3rd person singular)
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sprouted,
past participle, past
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sprouting
present participle
verb (used with object)
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sprouts,
present (3rd person singular)
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sprouted,
past participle, past
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sprouting
present participle
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to cause to sprout.
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to remove sprouts from.
Sprout and boil the potatoes.
noun
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sprouts
plural
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a shoot of a plant.
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a new growth from a germinating seed, or from a rootstock, tuber, bud, or the like.
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something resembling or suggesting a sprout, as in growth.
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a young person; youth.
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sprouts,
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the young shoots of alfalfa, soybeans, etc., eaten as a raw vegetable.
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verb
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(of a plant, seed, etc) to produce (new leaves, shoots, etc)
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to begin to grow or develop
new office blocks are sprouting up all over the city
noun
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a newly grown shoot or bud
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something that grows like a sprout
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See Brussels sprout
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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undersproutnoun
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resproutverb
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undersproutverb (used without object)
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nonsproutingadjective
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unsproutedadjective
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unsproutingadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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sproutsimple
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sproutssimple
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have sproutedperfect
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has sproutedperfect
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am sproutingprogressive
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are sproutingprogressive
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is sproutingprogressive
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have been sproutingperfect progressive
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has been sproutingperfect progressive
Past
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sproutedsimple
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had sproutedperfect
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was sproutingprogressive
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were sproutingprogressive
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had been sproutingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of sprout
1150–1200; (v.) Middle English spr ( o ) uten, Old English -sprūtan, in āsproten (past participle; see a- 3); cognate with Middle Dutch sprūten, German spriessen to sprout; akin to Greek speírein to scatter; (noun) Middle English; compare Middle Dutch, Middle Low German sprute
Explanation
A sprout is a small growth on a plant — a little new bud. Other things can sprout too: kids are constantly sprouting (growing). The key thing to think of when you're trying to remember the meaning of sprout is growth — as a noun, a sprout is a new growth of a plant, and as a verb, to sprout means to grow. Sprouting mainly applies to height and to the young, whether you're talking about plants, people, or things. An older person who gains fifty pounds is growing but not sprouting.
Vocabulary lists containing sprout
Bud, Not Buddy
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Seedfolks
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Old Yeller
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Burnt-sienna vines twist through simmering ocher air, while flora sprout through these roiling masses in hues of chromium oxide and cadmium green.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026
Recalling where certain plants sprout first in the spring can help hungry animals find important nutrients.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 29, 2026
The Buck Moon, which was named after the time male deer sprout new antlers, will rise on 29 July.
From BBC ● Jun. 29, 2026
The seed Pochettino planted with the national team took time to sprout.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 25, 2026
Teeny hints of spring are trying to sprout up already in Dad’s yard.
From "Blended" by Sharon M. Draper
"Bracken sprouts almost immediately because its rhizomes sit deep in the soil, so the burn layer wouldn't maybe have impacted those" she said.
From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2026
For the gardeners: At first, they look like unassuming sprouts.
From Slate ● Sep. 11, 2026
Inside more than a dozen North American plants, some 20,000 employees run machines that cut, wash and package raw vegetables like cauliflower and Brussels sprouts, or assemble veggie snack kits.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 18, 2026
The fields of Eshtiwi show only the first faint signs of growth in June, with small green sprouts emerging around the village.
From Barron's ● Jul. 1, 2026
Diligent mice tended the neat little vegetable patches which every season gave forth an abundance of fresh produce: cabbages, sprouts, marrows, turnips, peas, carrots, tomatoes, lettuces and onions, all in their turn.
From "Redwall" by Brian Jacques
England will want to build on the green shoots of recovery that sprouted in Leeds.
From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026
Fans marched to last Thursday’s afternoon game with Qatar wearing Canadian flags draped over their shoulders and headdresses that sprouted small maple leafs.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 23, 2026
Other factories sprouted, making such products as door hinges and coffee pots.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 6, 2026
Surveillance software sprouted in every cranny of the ballpark, first in service of providing more data for teams and front offices to pore over, then as fuel for ever more esoteric betting propositions.
From Salon ● Apr. 13, 2026
From a knot in a floorboard, a fresh, new and very solid sapling had sprouted, about a foot tall.
From "A Monster Calls" by Patrick Ness
We are a culture enamored of the child prodigy, the precocious upstart, the tender sprouting genius.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026
On the housing front, rows of affordable duplexes are sprouting up for young families, retirees and empty-nesters next to single-family homes and farmland.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 11, 2026
Images of seabirds, fish, and sprouting maize appear together on textiles, ceramics, pottery, wall carvings and paintings.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 7, 2026
Only raccoons are said to live in the Karlshorst buildings and birch saplings are sprouting out of a balcony.
From Barron's ● Feb. 8, 2026
The streets were wide open, lined with telephone poles—their wires crisscrossing overhead—and narrow sidewalks sprouting fiddleneck weeds and yellow mustard.
From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
