noun
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a person who works in or takes care of a garden as an occupation or pastime
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any bowerbird of the genus Amblyornis
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of gardener
1250–1300; Middle English < Old North French gardinier ( Old French jardinier ). See garden, -er 2
Explanation
A person whose hobby or job is growing flowers in a garden is called a gardener. If you want homegrown flowers and veggies, get to know a gardener. If you grow vegetables professionally, you're called a farmer, but if you design, tend, or care for a flower garden, you're a gardener. Planting anything on a small scale, in your own backyard, also makes you a gardener. The word gardener was a common last name starting in the 13th century, from the Old French jardineor, and the Old North French gardin, "kitchen garden or orchard."
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:
Yet the notion of a working gardener suggests continuous activity, watering down the image of a man slowing down.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
“For years, it was maintained by our gardener with great pride,” said former Dodgers owner Peter O’Malley, Walter’s son.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 21, 2026
After an employer refused to give him full wages for working as a one-handed gardener, Byfield declared: 'I never saw the man that would compete with me with one arm'.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 7, 2026
An amateur gardener is nurturing his giant pumpkin in preparation for an RHS competition later this month.
From BBC ● Sep. 6, 2026
Milligan, disguised as a gray-haired gardener in a straw hat, puttered gloomily about the iron fence, tending to the rose bushes.
From "The Mysterious Benedict Society" by Trenton Lee Stewart
Plump yourself on the spoils of would-be gardeners.
From Salon ● Sep. 26, 2026
For the gardeners: At first, they look like unassuming sprouts.
From Slate ● Sep. 11, 2026
Backyard gardeners like me know it as the P in N-P-K.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
It is not practicable to water mature trees, gardeners explained.
From Barron's ● Aug. 25, 2026
He heard the robot gardeners clipping the grass along a walk.
From "The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm" by Nancy Farmer
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.
