fertilize
Americanverb (used with object)
-
fertilizes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
fertilized,
past participle, past
-
fertilizing
present participle
-
Biology.
-
to render (the female gamete) capable of development by uniting it with the male gamete.
-
to fecundate or impregnate (an animal or plant).
-
-
to make fertile; enrich.
to fertilize farmland.
-
to make productive.
verb
-
to provide (an animal, plant, or egg cell) with sperm or pollen to bring about fertilization
-
to supply (soil or water) with mineral and organic nutrients to aid the growth of plants
-
to make fertile or productive
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
-
fertilizabilitynoun
-
overfertilizeverb (used with object)
-
prefertilizeverb (used with object)
-
refertilizeverb (used with object)
-
fertilizableadjective
-
refertilizableadjective
-
unfertilizableadjective
-
unfertilizedadjective
-
unfertilizingadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
fertilizesimple
-
fertilizessimple
-
have fertilizedperfect
-
has fertilizedperfect
-
am fertilizingprogressive
-
are fertilizingprogressive
-
is fertilizingprogressive
-
have been fertilizingperfect progressive
-
has been fertilizingperfect progressive
Past
-
fertilizedsimple
-
had fertilizedperfect
-
was fertilizingprogressive
-
were fertilizingprogressive
-
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
In regions north of the Antarctic Polar Front -- a boundary where cold Antarctic waters meet warmer waters to the north -- that dust helped fertilize algae.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 4, 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
Composting turns organic material, like food scraps, into a nutrient-rich mixture that can be used to fertilize new plants and crops.
From Salon ● Jan. 22, 2025
I had planned to fertilize the corn and the soybeans, which were now up.
From "Z for Zachariah" by Robert C. O’Brien
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
He was enamored with the Russian giants, writing in 1953 that “those fertilized by both Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy, who understand them both equally well,” have “an always formidable nature, with themselves and with others.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 8, 2026
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
In early November, Acacio transferred one of the fertilized embryos.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 3, 2026
The female carries the fertilized eggs for about 30 days.
From Slate ● Aug. 19, 2025
Under the microscopes, their long tails furiously lashing, spermatozoa were burrowing head first into eggs; and, fertilized, the eggs were expanding, dividing, or if bokanovskified, budding and breaking up into whole populations of separate embryos.
From "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley
The additional effort he puts in—seeding, watering, fertilizing, aerating—is a reflection of his professional work ethic.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026
“We’ve been fertilizing and watering them pretty heavy,” he said.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 19, 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
My earliest memories are of being in that greenhouse with Mom, growing our little plant family, following her rules, watering and fertilizing each seed just right.
From "The Science of Breakable Things" by Tae Keller
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.
