horticulture
Americannoun
-
the cultivation of a garden, orchard, or nursery; the cultivation of flowers, fruits, vegetables, or ornamental plants.
-
the science and art of cultivating such plants.
noun
Other Word Forms
- horticultural adjective
- horticulturist noun
Etymology
Origin of horticulture
First recorded in 1670–80; from Latin hort(us) “garden” + (agr)iculture
Explanation
Horticulture is a nice long word for "gardening." If you study horticulture, you learn about plant propagation, soil, fertilizer — everything that makes a good garden. The word horticulture was coined in the late 17th century — when some serious gardens were being planned and executed in England — and is based on the Latin word for "garden," hortus, combined with the suffix -culture, mostly likely in the same way as the word agriculture.
Vocabulary lists containing horticulture
Tangerine
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Dirty Words: The Language of Gardening
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Human Geography - Middle School
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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.
Kenyan meat and horticulture are also feeling the impact of the conflict, suffering losses amounting to millions of dollars every week.
From Barron's • Mar. 27, 2026
Previously, she spent a decade as director of horticulture of New York’s Brooklyn Bridge Park.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 31, 2025
"These devices could enable next-generation eye-friendly displays, adaptive indoor lighting, and even wavelength-tunable sources for horticulture or well-being applications."
From Science Daily • Oct. 11, 2025
According to horticulture professor Mary Abukutsa-Onyango, this trend is reflected in government data and some of the health benefits are backed by research.
From BBC • Jul. 20, 2025
I began to order books on gardening and horticulture.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
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.
