fructification
Americannoun
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act of fructifying; the fruiting of a plant, fungus, etc.
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the fruit itself.
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the organs of fruiting; fruiting body.
noun
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the act or state of fructifying
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the fruit of a seed-bearing plant
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any spore-bearing structure in ferns, mosses, fungi, etc
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The producing of fruit by an angiosperm.
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A seed-bearing or spore-bearing structure.
Etymology
Origin of fructification
1605–15; < Late Latin frūctificātion- (stem of frūctificātiō ) a bearing of fruit, equivalent to Latin frūctificāt ( us ) (past participle of frūctificāre; see fructify) + -iōn- -ion
Explanation
Fructification is the process of growing fruit. During fructification, a pear tree will first grow fragrant blossoms before they develop into delicious pears. When a plant undergoes fructification, you can also say it fructifies, or develops so that it can produce fruit. Both words stem from the Latin fructificare, "bear fruit," and its root fructus, which means both "fruit" and "profit or enjoyment." You can use fructification in this figurative way too, to mean "make productive." You might say, "The fructification of my lemonade stand means I can pay you back for all that sugar I borrowed!"
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.
Asperococcus derives its name from its roughened surface, occasioned by the thickly scattered spots of fructification.
From Sea-Weeds, Shells and Fossils by Gray, Peter
The chill which poverty breathes over the mind is as unfriendly to the unfolding of the intellectual germs, as the icy atmosphere of winter is to the fructification of vegetable seed.
From Monks, Popes, and their Political Intrigues by Alberger, John
Cryptogamia, krip-to-gā′mi-a, n. the class of flowerless plants, or those which have their fructification concealed.—n.
From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 1 of 4: A-D) by Various
The threads of which they are composed are jointed, and generally unbranched; they are of various tints of blue, red, and green, and, where their fructification has been ascertained, are propagated by cell division.
From Sea-Weeds, Shells and Fossils by Gray, Peter
The cup, or shield-shaped spot, or knob, which bears the fructification is named the Apothecium.
From The Elements of Botany For Beginners and For Schools by Gray, Asa
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.
