botanist
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of botanist
1675–85; botan ( ism ) botany (< Greek botanismós, equivalent to botán ( ē ) plant + -ismos -ism ) + -ist
Explanation
Use the noun botanist to describe a biologist whose specialty is plants — the way they grow, the differences between them, and everything else that has to do with plant science. The earliest botanists, in the 1500s, began a system of classifying plants scientifically, while modern botanists study the DNA of plants as well as their uses in medicine and nutrition. The root word is botanic, from the Greek botanikos, "of herbs."
Vocabulary lists containing botanist
Because of Mr. Terupt
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Wishtree
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"The Science of Breakable Things" by Tae Keller, List 1
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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.
"He's taken us all to places that we would never otherwise go. That's a huge gift," botanist Sandra Knapp, director of research at London's Natural History Museum, told AFP.
From Barron's • May 6, 2026
Professor Rod Fensham, a botanist at the University of Queensland, said urgent action is needed to prevent the species Rhodamnia zombi from disappearing due to the fungal disease known as myrtle rust.
From Science Daily • Mar. 13, 2026
The director of conservation at the California Botanic Garden, botanist Naomi Fraga, said a superbloom is typically classified as a regional phenomenon where you see fields of wildflowers stretching across hundreds of thousands of acres.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 10, 2026
The book came from the family library of Hubert Priestley who was a famous botanist in the 1930s and brother to the Antarctic explorer and geologist, Sir Raymond Edward Priestley.
From BBC • Aug. 6, 2025
Richardson also happened to be the botanist who first wrote a scientific description of H. mackenzii and gave the plant its botanical name.
From "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
