fertilizer

American  

[fur-tl-ahy-zer] / ˈfɜr tlˌaɪ zər /

noun

fertilizers plural

1. any substance used to fertilize the soil, especially a commercial or chemical manure.

2. a person, insect, etc., that fertilizes an animal or plant.

   Bees are fertilizers of flowers.

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fertilizer British  

/ ˈfɜːtɪˌlaɪzə /

noun

1. any substance, such as manure or a mixture of nitrates, added to soil or water to increase its productivity

2. an object or organism such as an insect that fertilizes an animal or plant

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fertilizer Scientific  

/ fûr′tl-ī′zər /

1. Any of a large number of natural and synthetic materials, including manure and compounds containing nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, spread on or worked into soil to increase its capacity to support plant growth. Synthetic fertilizers can greatly increase the productivity of soil but have high energy costs, since fossil fuels are required as a source of hydrogen, which is necessary to fix nitrogen in ammonia.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• fertilizers
  plural

Etymology

Origin of fertilizer

First recorded in 1655–65; fertilize + -er ¹

Explanation

Material you add to a garden to increase the nutrients in the soil and help plants grow is called fertilizer. If your rosebushes are looking a little sad, you might want to try using fertilizer. To fertilize is to make something fertile, or to encourage it to grow or reproduce. These words, along with fertilizer, come from the Latin fertilis, "bearing in abundance, fruitful, or productive." The most common kind of organic fertilizer is animal manure or peat, and other fertilizers are made of specific nutrients like nitrogen or potassium. Fertilizers are usually solid, though they come in liquid form as well.

Example Sentences

Farmers often lock in prices for commodities like fertilizer in advance.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 19, 2026

The Middle East is one of the world’s largest suppliers of urea, a widely used synthetic nitrogen fertilizer.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 19, 2026

Phosphate fertilizer prices jumped 25% due to a fivefold increase in sulfur costs, impacting producers like Mosaic.

From Barron's • Jun. 18, 2026

Then came the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which sent shock waves through the markets for oil, gas and other commodities, including components of fertilizer.

From MarketWatch • Jun. 18, 2026

The combination of the new crops and the greatly increased use of artificial fertilizer and irrigation led to the well-known Green Revolution.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann

Related Words

• manure