carrot
Americannoun
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a plant, Daucus carota, of the parsley family, having pinnately decompound leaves and umbels of small white or yellow flowers, in its wild form a widespread, familiar weed, and in cultivation valued for its edible root.
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the nutritious, orange to yellow root of this plant, eaten raw or cooked.
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something hoped for or promised as a lure or incentive.
To boost productivity, leaders hinted at the carrot of subsidized housing for the workers.
verb (used with object)
noun
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an umbelliferous plant, Daucus carota sativa, with finely divided leaves and flat clusters of small white flowers See also wild carrot
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the long tapering orange root of this plant, eaten as a vegetable
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something offered as a lure or incentive
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reward and punishment as methods of persuasion
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Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of carrot
1525–35; < Middle French carotte < Late Latin carōta < Greek karōtón, derivative of kárē head, with suffix as in kephalōtón onion, derivative of kephalḗ head
Explanation
A carrot is a long, orange root vegetable. Carrots can be planted as tiny seeds and grown in a backyard garden. Carrots are a popular vegetable to eat raw on their own, or chopped and tossed in a salad. You can also cook carrots, or grate them and make a carrot cake. You might also use the word carrot to mean an implied reward, especially in the phrase "carrot and stick," which comes from the idea of enticing a donkey or mule forward with a carrot, or punishing it for not moving by hitting it with a stick.
Vocabulary lists containing carrot
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.
A staff member trims the wicks on a pair of carrot birthday candles, $22.
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 1, 2026
"The big carrot was a home World Cup, " he said.
From BBC • Jun. 19, 2026
“The carrot is extremely powerful and extremely important to them if they don’t want to face another January uprising in Iran,” he said.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 17, 2026
That means that Collins’ position atop the Appropriations Committee, and the hundreds of millions of dollars in earmarks that come with it, is both a carrot and a stick.
From Slate • Jun. 16, 2026
Mr. Jeet held a small piece of carrot in his hand.
From "The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street" by Karina Yan Glaser
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.
