botany
Americannoun
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the science of plants; the branch of biology that deals with plant life.
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the plant life of a region.
the botany of Alaska.
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the biology of a plant or plant group.
the botany of deciduous trees.
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(sometimes initial capital letter) Botany wool.
noun
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the study of plants, including their classification, structure, physiology, ecology, and economic importance
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the plant life of a particular region or time
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the biological characteristics of a particular group of plants
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The scientific study of plants, including their growth, structure, physiology, reproduction, and pathology, as well as their economic use and cultivation by humans.
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The plant life of a particular area.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of botany
Explanation
The study of plants is called botany. Each climate has its own particular botany, so if you study desert growth, you might focus on such plants as cactus and sage, while if you're in the jungle you'd study the lush growth there. Someone once said, "Botany is the science in which plants are known by their aliases." Indeed, the study of botany includes learning the scientific names of plants. The origin of the word botany came from the Greek word botane, which means "grass" or "pasture." Since the original meaning focused on the idea of a pasture, it's possible the study of botany came about from herdsmen needing to know what plants were safe for their herds to eat.
Vocabulary lists containing botany
"When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine," Vocabulary from the short story
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Astronauts
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Where the Watermelons Grow
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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.
Specialists in zoology, ecology, and botany worked together to uncover how different species manage to survive there.
From Science Daily • Mar. 2, 2026
First, a botany crash-course: You can’t just plant a seed from your favorite apple to grow more of them.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 10, 2025
“We’ve always been intrigued by overlap between plants and humans,” study coauthor Pradeep Kachroo, a botany professor at the University of Kentucky, told Salon in a video interview.
From Salon • Mar. 5, 2025
He got into botany after wanting to save animals as a child and a brief spell as a model.
From BBC • May 24, 2024
There was a section for inventing and a section for building and one for scientific study and one for botany and one for the study of magic.
From "The Girl Who Drank the Moon" by Kelly Barnhill
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.
