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:
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
He said he already had paid $50,000 more than last year to fertilize his corn fields in the past 30 days.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 3, 2026
Farmers, who used herring to fertilize their fields and subsequently attracted gulls to their farms, joined in the complaints, Anderson adds.
From Salon ● Oct. 20, 2024
Surface water, for example, could have runoff that includes nitrate used to fertilize land in agricultural areas.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2024
But Papa used the mess to fertilize everything that grew around the place.
From "Stella by Starlight" by Sharon M. Draper
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
By examining infrared light -- wavelengths invisible to the naked eye -- these incredibly precise images reveal how dust fertilizes the universe after being heated by both massive young stars and surrounding interstellar space radiation.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 17, 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 chicken manure fertilizes the grass, supplying all the nitrogen it needs.
From "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan
After four hours in simulated zero gravity, the number of successfully fertilized mouse eggs dropped by 30 per cent compared to normal Earth conditions.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 29, 2026
The flies develop quickly in flowing waters, where females will lay 200 to 500 fertilized eggs at a time.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 27, 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
Dirt roads so rich and black that a half mile of it would have fertilized a Kansas wheat field.
From "Their Eyes Were Watching God" by Zora Neale Hurston
Farmers have mostly had to do their own work turning data from Deere’s operations center into actionable information for harvesting, fertilizing or equipment use.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 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
He does a lot more for his clients — trimming plants, fertilizing and weeding too.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 17, 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
Did he really intend to do the fertilizing himself?
From "Z for Zachariah" by Robert C. O’Brien
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.
