irrigate
Americanverb (used with object)
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irrigates,
present (3rd person singular)
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irrigated,
past participle, past
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irrigating
present participle
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to supply (land) with water by artificial means, as by diverting streams, flooding, or spraying.
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Medicine/Medical. to supply or wash (an orifice, wound, etc.) with a spray or a flow of some liquid.
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to moisten; wet.
verb
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to supply (land) with water by means of artificial canals, ditches, etc, esp to promote the growth of food crops
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med to bathe or wash out a bodily part, cavity, or wound
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(tr) to make fertile, fresh, or vital by or as if by watering
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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irrigationnoun
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irrigatornoun
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overirrigateverb (used with object)
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reirrigateverb (used with object)
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irrigableadjective
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irrigationaladjective
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nonirrigatedadjective
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nonirrigatingadjective
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unirrigatedadjective
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well-irrigatedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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irrigatesimple
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irrigatessimple
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have irrigatedperfect
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has irrigatedperfect
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am irrigatingprogressive
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are irrigatingprogressive
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is irrigatingprogressive
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have been irrigatingperfect progressive
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has been irrigatingperfect progressive
Past
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irrigatedsimple
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had irrigatedperfect
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was irrigatingprogressive
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were irrigatingprogressive
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had been irrigatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of irrigate
1605–15; < Latin irrigātus, past participle of irrigāre to wet, flood, nourish with water, equivalent to ir- ir- 1 + rigā- (stem of rigāre to provide with water, soak) + -tus past participle suffix
Explanation
To irrigate is to supply with water, usually with ditches and channels that allow the water to flow. Irrigating is a type of watering that is important in one field in particular: farming. If a farmer has a huge number of crops, you can see how getting water to them could be difficult. The farmer irrigates by digging little channels that allow hard-to-reach spots to receive water. If there is a drought, irrigating will have to happen often to save the crops. People with large gardens might need to irrigate as well. Irrigating waters plants, keeping them alive.
Vocabulary lists containing irrigate
Civilizations and Peoples of the Fertile Crescent, Lessons 1–2
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Chapter 1: The First Americans
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Unit 1: Ecological Systems
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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.
See Examples For:
We irrigate our lawns and other greenery, which is a boon to the beetles because they need moist landscapes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026
They have left vineyards struggling to sufficiently irrigate their plants, and caused crop yields to dwindle.
From Barron's ● Aug. 16, 2026
A water source gets contaminated in some way, and that water is then used to irrigate a field.
From Slate ● Jul. 17, 2026
Built to provide electricity for the southwestern United States and to irrigate Nevada, it was the great cause of Herbert Hoover.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 27, 2026
He had heard the doctor tell the white nurse to irrigate my head with Epsom salts and warm water every two or three hours or I wouldn’t make it.
From "Warriors Don't Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock's Central High" by Melba Pattillo Beals
A water system irrigates the plants via a nutrient substrate, a liquid fertiliser that replaces the nutrients and minerals naturally present in the soil.
From Barron's ● Feb. 17, 2026
Nearby, water pumped from the Ogallala Aquifer irrigates fields of peanuts and cotton.
From Salon ● May 7, 2024
And because most pumped groundwater irrigates crops, major declines in availability could lead to a global food crisis.
From Scientific American ● Oct. 25, 2023
It also irrigates California’s powerful agriculture industry while providing drinking water to 25 million people.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 14, 2023
The third Brook of Grace irrigates the conative powers of the self; strengthens the will in all perfection, and energises us anew.
From Ruysbroeck by Evelyn Underhill
More than half of the Colorado River’s water is used for irrigated agriculture, and in recent years the federal government has been effectively subsidizing farmers to leave their water unused.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
Janssen explained that 200 units of nitrogen are used per acre of irrigated corn.
From Salon ● Apr. 25, 2026
The property features three creeks that “meander through the ranch for over five miles,” as well as irrigated meadows and “historic water rights irrigating 1,200 acres.”
From MarketWatch ● Dec. 23, 2025
It has argued that just a 2% reduction in the amount of water it gets from the Nile could result in the loss of 200,000 acres of irrigated land.
From BBC ● Jul. 3, 2025
Agriculture occurred in as much as two-thirds of what is now the continental United States, with large swathes of the Southwest terraced and irrigated.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
Italy’s longest river, the Po, is essential for irrigating farmland.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026
"Farmers have reported issues with spring crops and have had to start irrigating earlier because of the dry soils," a spokesperson said.
From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2026
It's essential to the entire operation here: irrigating young plants, spraying fertilizers and plowing the soil.
From Barron's ● Apr. 11, 2026
They also argue the state has been allowing excessively large amounts of water to be pumped from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to supply agriculture, irrigating vast acreages of almonds, rice, tomatoes and other crops.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 31, 2024
But he was not irrigating fields, milking cows, or otherwise performing feats of agricultural masochism which might warrant such early rising.
From "The Milagro Beanfield War" by John Nichols
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