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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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.
Asima Ahmad, a doctor who specializes in fertility and co-founded Carrot, a company that offers job-based fertility benefits, offered another explanation for why the disease is overlooked.
From Salon • Mar. 19, 2026
To help compensate for that, some employers are providing access to menopause specialists through virtual-care platforms such as Maven Clinic, Progyny and Carrot that focus on women’s health.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 11, 2025
Carrot farmer Rodger Hobson says the same wet weather delayed this year's carrot planting season.
From BBC • Dec. 15, 2024
On Tuesday morning, Scott Thompson, the comedian known as Carrot Top, was sipping tea in his dressing room at the Luxor Hotel and Casino, where he has been a headliner for 18 years.
From New York Times • Feb. 8, 2024
I was sort of embarrassed that I thought that Carrot Squash was a food.
From Absolutely Almost by Lisa Graff
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.
