fertilize
Americanverb (used with object)
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fertilizes,
present (3rd person singular)
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fertilized,
past participle, past
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fertilizing
present participle
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Biology.
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to render (the female gamete) capable of development by uniting it with the male gamete.
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to fecundate or impregnate (an animal or plant).
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to make fertile; enrich.
to fertilize farmland.
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to make productive.
verb
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to provide (an animal, plant, or egg cell) with sperm or pollen to bring about fertilization
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to supply (soil or water) with mineral and organic nutrients to aid the growth of plants
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to make fertile or productive
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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fertilizabilitynoun
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overfertilizeverb (used with object)
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prefertilizeverb (used with object)
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refertilizeverb (used with object)
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fertilizableadjective
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refertilizableadjective
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unfertilizableadjective
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unfertilizedadjective
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unfertilizingadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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fertilizesimple
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fertilizessimple
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have fertilizedperfect
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has fertilizedperfect
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am fertilizingprogressive
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are fertilizingprogressive
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is fertilizingprogressive
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have been fertilizingperfect progressive
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has been fertilizingperfect progressive
Past
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fertilizedsimple
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had fertilizedperfect
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was fertilizingprogressive
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were fertilizingprogressive
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had been fertilizingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of fertilize
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:
Pancho often took him there, teaching Óscar when to fertilize and how to identify deadly fungus.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 6, 2026
And “if they fertilize the lawn around the pool, all that water that’s running in there is adding nitrogen and phosphorus,” she says.
From Slate ● Jun. 27, 2026
But syrup producers do not plant, irrigate, fertilize or use insecticides on their self-sufficient forests.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 24, 2025
Whether we use it to fertilize a resurgent democracy, or throw it in everyone’s face, including our own, is really up to us.
From Salon ● Mar. 6, 2025
I gathered up the street droppings myself to fertilize them.
From "Jazz" by Toni Morrison
Dusky farmerfish in East Asia grow “crops” of red algae by assiduously “weeding out less palatable foods” and have effectively domesticated a type of shrimp whose waste fertilizes the algae and boosts yields.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026
When the sperm fertilizes this gamete, it introduces the protein cyclin, which then activates the decomposition of the inhibitory protein.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 15, 2024
The business-nature of professional sports continually fertilizes that feeling.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 12, 2023
In mammals, offspring are produced when males’ sperm fertilizes females’ eggs.
From Scientific American ● Aug. 1, 2023
The animal also spreads grass seed, plants it with his hooves, and then fertilizes it with his manure.
From "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan
Under this genetic system, females develop from fertilized eggs and possess two sets of chromosomes, while males develop from unfertilized eggs and have only one set.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 15, 2026
The eggs they fertilized hatched in incubation tanks on the banks of the McCloud, according to Rebekah Olstad, project manager for the Winnemem Wintu’s salmon restoration efforts.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 4, 2026
Three eggs had fertilized but none developed into embryos.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 14, 2025
The female carries the fertilized eggs for about 30 days.
From Slate ● Aug. 19, 2025
The female Polistes wasp, taking shelter in a forgotten corner of some attic, carries in her body the fertilized eggs, the heritage on which the whole future of her colony depends.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
“We’re probably fertilizing half the acres we normally would,” he said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 30, 2026
In clinical terms, IVF involves removing eggs from a woman, fertilizing them in a lab with sperm and implanting embryos in the uterus.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 14, 2025
The dung beetle, which disperses seeds as it rolls its dung balls, fertilizing topsoil and enhancing biodiversity and engineering its environment, normally orients itself using the Milky Way and the moon.
From Salon ● Apr. 15, 2025
IVF is a common procedure for those facing infertility that involves collecting eggs from ovaries, fertilizing them with sperm in a lab and implanting them in a uterus.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 29, 2024
And now Mariana’s offer is like cow manure, fertilizing it, nourishing it, reminding me of my power, my options.
From "The Queen of Water" by Laura Resau
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.
