germinate

[ jur-muh-neyt ]

verb (used without object)

, ger·mi·nat·ed, ger·mi·nat·ing.

1. to begin to grow or develop.
2. Botany.
   1. to develop into a plant or individual, as a seed, spore, or bulb.
   2. to put forth shoots; sprout; pullulate.
3. to come into existence; begin.

verb (used with object)

, ger·mi·nat·ed, ger·mi·nat·ing.

1. to cause to develop; produce.
2. to cause to come into existence; create.

germinate

/ ˈdʒɜːmɪˌneɪt /

verb

1. to cause (seeds or spores) to sprout or (of seeds or spores) to sprout or form new tissue following increased metabolism
2. to grow or cause to grow; develop
3. to come or bring into existence; originate

   the idea germinated with me

Derived Forms

• ˌgermiˈnation, noun
• ˈgerminable, adjective
• ˈgermiˌnator, noun

Other Words From

• ger·mi·na·ble [jur, -m, uh, -n, uh, -b, uh, l], adjective
• germi·nation noun
• germi·nator noun
• non·germi·nating adjective
• nonger·mi·nation noun
• re·germi·nate verb regerminated regerminating
• reger·mi·nation noun
• un·germi·nated adjective
• un·germi·nating adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of germinate¹

1600–10; < Latin germinātus (past participle of germināre to sprout, bud), equivalent to germin- ( germinal ) + -ātus -ate ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of germinate¹

C17: from Latin germināre to sprout; see germ

Example Sentences

Most are edible and germinate in the conventional way, starting life as a seedling and growing upward.

From Nautilus

They’ll germinate in roughly two weeks, with the first harvest six weeks later.

From Popular-Science

One of those seeds gets carried across an ocean to a new, unvegetated continent where it germinates and becomes the founder species for plant life.

From Nautilus

Oreskes describes how major science advances germinated and weaves those accounts with deeply researched stories of backstabbing colleagues, attempted coups at oceanographic institutions and daring deep-sea adventures.

From Science News

The post-Harden Rockets exist as a shell-encased seed, hurt by injury but ready to germinate.

From FiveThirtyEight

Texas may be a testing ground, but it is in Silicon Valley that ideas germinate and incubate.

From The Daily Beast

But without a reasonable expectation that security will materialize, better governance will not germinate.

From The Daily Beast

That sent to Sind, though said to have been carefully sown, also failed to germinate.

From Project Gutenberg

More thinking, and a greater experience of life, may cause him to germinate agreeably in a few years.

From Project Gutenberg

Does anyone know for sure how to get pawpaw seed to germinate?

From Project Gutenberg

This is a seed of such force and vitality, that it does not ask our leave to germinate.

From Project Gutenberg

The spores of a heartwood-inhabiting fungus cannot germinate and thrive unless they fall upon the heartwood of the tree.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• sprout