garden
noun
a plot of ground, usually near a house, where flowers, shrubs, vegetables, fruits, or herbs are cultivated.
garden
1 American
[gahr-dn]
/ ˈgɑr dn /
noun
-
gardens
plural
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a plot of ground, usually near a house, where flowers, shrubs, vegetables, fruits, or herbs are cultivated.
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a piece of ground or other space, commonly with ornamental plants, trees, etc., used as a park or other public recreation area.
a public garden.
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a fertile and delightful spot or region.
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British. yard.
adjective
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pertaining to, produced in, or suitable for cultivation or use in a garden.
fresh garden vegetables; garden furniture.
verb (used without object)
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gardens,
present (3rd person singular)
-
gardened,
past participle, past
-
gardening
present participle
verb (used with object)
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gardens,
present (3rd person singular)
-
gardened,
past participle, past
-
gardening
present participle
idioms
Garden
2
American
[gahr-dn]
/ ˈgɑr dn /
noun
-
Alexander, 1730?–91, U.S. naturalist, born in Scotland.
-
Mary, 1877–1967, U.S. soprano.
garden
British
/ ˈɡɑːdən /
noun
-
-
US and Canadian word: yard. an area of land, usually planted with grass, trees, flowerbeds, etc, adjoining a house
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( as modifier )
a garden chair
-
-
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an area of land used for the cultivation of ornamental plants, herbs, fruit, vegetables, trees, etc
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( as modifier )
garden tools
-
-
(often plural) such an area of land that is open to the public, sometimes part of a park
botanical gardens
-
-
a fertile and beautiful region
-
( as modifier )
a garden paradise
-
-
(modifier) provided with or surrounded by a garden or gardens
a garden flat
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informal to mislead or deceive a person
adjective
verb
garden
More Idioms
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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garden-likeadjective
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gardenableadjective
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gardenlessadjective
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gardenlikeadjective
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ungardenedadjective
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well-gardenedadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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gardensimple
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gardenssimple
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have gardenedperfect
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has gardenedperfect
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am gardeningprogressive
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are gardeningprogressive
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is gardeningprogressive
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have been gardeningperfect progressive
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has been gardeningperfect progressive
Past
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gardenedsimple
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had gardenedperfect
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was gardeningprogressive
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were gardeningprogressive
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had been gardeningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of garden
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English gardin, from Old North French gardin, Old French jardin, from Germanic; compare Old High German gartin-, German Garten; see also yard 2
Explanation
A garden is a piece of land that's used to grow flowers, vegetables, or other plants. Your grandmother might be so proud of her rose garden that she gives every visitor a tour of it. A vegetable garden is often planted in straight rows, sometimes within a raised bed. Flower gardens can take all sorts of shapes, from tidy to meandering. When you work in your garden, pulling weeds or planting seedlings, you garden. In the UK, a garden is what's called a yard in the US — any bit of land just outside of a house. The phrase "garden variety" means "ordinary:" "Oh he's just a garden variety mixed-breed dog, nothing fancy."
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:
She chose tomatoes, which grew in every garden back home.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
"We have a beautiful garden, and I would plant it in May or June, and basically walk away until October," Sandra Marquardt said of the mosquito issue.
From Barron's ● Aug. 7, 2026
Other types of pollution affecting England's bodies of water, the Environment Agency pointed to, include petrol, garden pesticides and contaminated water running off roads picking up microplastics.
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026
During the war, the government handed it to a top-secret military intelligence unit, and engineers wired it with hidden microphones throughout -- even in the garden.
From Barron's ● Aug. 5, 2026
But on this particular afternoon, he found very little peace in the garden.
From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman
The shocking incident barely registered in the US news, dominated that balmy July 2 night by the wedding of pop superstar Taylor Swift at Madison Square Garden on the other side of Manhattan.
From Barron's ● Aug. 7, 2026
Swift’s team deployed facial recognition tracking on concertgoers but turned it off for some of the wealthiest and most renowned names at her Madison Square Garden rehearsal dinner.
From Slate ● Aug. 5, 2026
Portillo’s on Tuesday said Kalicak, 53 years old, most recently served as senior vice president of finance for Darden Restaurants’ Olive Garden chain.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026
Plus, there’s the unquantifiable: “Venues often come and go,” says Aniello, “but Madison Square Garden feels like forever. The name itself has remained protected as this kind of sacred thing.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 3, 2026
I swished the extra shot, and we gathered up our stuff to head for Madison Square Garden.
From "The Million Dollar Shot" by Dan Gutman
Flowering plants in pollinator gardens, agricultural fields, and residential landscapes often grow alongside weeds that are controlled with herbicides.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 6, 2026
In the front gardens, yellow and red roses bloom to match the houses’ exteriors; in the back, a sunny 4-foot cocktail pool with a natural limestone border awaits guests.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
Pictures from social media show gardens inundated with deep brown water with a football club also flooded as well as local roads.
From BBC ● Jul. 30, 2026
Typical gardens would only have between five and 10 different species of butterfly.
From BBC ● Jul. 30, 2026
Indiscriminate in taste, the mariposas flittered over cultivated gardens as happily as they danced over thorn-ridden lots and neglected fields.
From "Summer of the Mariposas" by Guadalupe García McCall
“My father built a cabin and gardened; we raised chickens and sheep. My mother was a schoolteacher who sewed all my clothes and dolls.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 9, 2026
It was once Mattus’s grandfather’s house, and his father was born there; both previous generations gardened there, too.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 17, 2024
As we gardened and invested in gardens for different social, educational and environmental reasons in rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods, we contributed to increasing land values in a process described as green gentrification.
From Salon ● Sep. 9, 2022
There, Ms. Oberlander gardened in earnest — her mother was a horticulturist — and developed a deep affinity for the land.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 5, 2021
This was the one she gardened and fished in, nibbled at the brim.
From "A Long Way from Chicago" by Richard Peck
That applies to everything from investing to gardening.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 25, 2026
Researchers, gardening experts and horticulturists offer recommendations for dealing with your garden after the warehouse fire in Boyle Heights.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2026
In 2020 the couple started their own Welsh tropical gardening group, where people would share tips and tricks for growing.
From BBC ● Jul. 1, 2026
Tilley, now retired, lives in St. Leonards-on-Sea, a resort town about 70 miles southeast of London, where she spends her free time gardening and going to the movies.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 24, 2026
“Is it time for a break? We’ve been gardening forever.”
From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman
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.
