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
He will spread more of what my dad used to fertilize his roses.
From Salon ● Feb. 20, 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
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
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 chicken manure fertilizes the grass, supplying all the nitrogen it needs.
From "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan
That is, it’s low if you go through the full process of having your eggs retrieved at 44, fertilized, and then an embryo implanted.
From Slate ● Oct. 16, 2026
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 26 hatched chicks were grown from fertilized tissue transferred from hen’s eggs into the new container, which functioned essentially as an incubator.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 21, 2026
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
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
Although nitrogen fertilizer was used in the experiment, the researchers do not recommend fertilizing forests.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 15, 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
Did he really intend to do the fertilizing himself?
From "Z for Zachariah" by Robert C. O’Brien
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
