mushroom
Americannoun
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mushrooms
plural
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any of various fleshy fungi including the toadstools, puffballs, coral fungi, morels, etc.
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any of several edible species, especially of the family Agaricaceae, as Agaricus campestris meadow mushroom, or field mushroom, cultivated for food in the U.S.
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anything of similar shape or correspondingly rapid growth.
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a large, mushroom-shaped cloud of smoke or rubble, formed in the atmosphere as a result of an explosion, especially a nuclear explosion.
adjective
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of, consisting of, or containing mushrooms.
a mushroom omelet.
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resembling a mushroom in shape or form.
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of rapid growth and often brief duration.
mushroom towns of the gold-rush days.
verb (used without object)
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mushrooms,
present (3rd person singular)
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mushroomed,
past participle, past
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mushrooming
present participle
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to spread, grow, or develop quickly.
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to gather mushrooms.
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to have or assume the shape of a mushroom.
noun
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the fungus producing any of these structures
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something resembling a mushroom in shape or rapid growth
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( as modifier )
mushroom expansion
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verb
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to grow rapidly
demand mushroomed overnight
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to assume a mushroom-like shape
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to gather mushrooms
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Any of various fungi that produce a fleshy fruiting body, which usually consists of a stalk topped by an umbrella-shaped cap. Many mushrooms are basidiomycetes. Some species of mushrooms are edible, though many are poisonous. The term mushroom is often applied to the stalk and cap alone.
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See more at basidiomycete
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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mushroomsimple
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mushroomssimple
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have mushroomedperfect
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has mushroomedperfect
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am mushroomingprogressive
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are mushroomingprogressive
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is mushroomingprogressive
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have been mushroomingperfect progressive
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has been mushroomingperfect progressive
Past
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mushroomedsimple
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had mushroomedperfect
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was mushroomingprogressive
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were mushroomingprogressive
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had been mushroomingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of mushroom
First recorded in 1350–1400; alteration (by folk etymology) of Middle English muscheron, musseroun, from Middle French mousseron, ultimately from Late Latin mussiriōn-, stem of mussiriō
Explanation
A mushroom is the main body of a certain type of fungus. Edible mushrooms include portobellos and shiitakes. Don't mess around with the inedible types. Walk in the woods after a few days of rain, and you're sure to see mushrooms growing from the damp forest floor. Mushrooms like moist environments, and many mushrooms also grow incredibly fast, which is where the verb form of mushroom, "grow and spread quickly," comes from. The word's origin is ultimately uncertain, although some experts believe it's related to the French mousse, or "moss."
Vocabulary lists containing mushroom
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:
He nitpicks about the quality of this mushroom or that mushroom.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 12, 2026
With the decline of logging and cannabis as livelihoods, they see income from tourists attracted by ultramarathons, mushroom foraging and other outdoor activities as a financial savior.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026
One slightly stranger favorite is ground beef mixed with minced mushrooms and a little mushroom gravy powder, which can become an excellent head start on stew, meatballs, meatloaf or cottage pie.
From Salon ● Aug. 25, 2026
Australian toxic mushroom killer Erin Patterson launches an appeal on Wednesday against her conviction in a triple-murder case that made headlines worldwide.
From Barron's ● Aug. 18, 2026
The boy nudged the mushroom with his stick.
From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman
Foraging for mushrooms is a distinctly low-tech enterprise.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 12, 2026
The man, 56-year-old Wu Zhiqing, complains about the quality of the mushrooms; she wheedles back in response.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 12, 2026
Sausage — pork or soy — is an obvious choice, but deeply seasoned, aggressively browned mushrooms do the job beautifully, too.
From Salon ● Sep. 6, 2026
Foragers risk getting fined or prosecuted for picking the mushrooms, but they can also be poisonous if eaten.
From BBC ● Aug. 30, 2026
They’d roam the nearby forests and meadows, gathering mushrooms, digging up edible roots, catching frogs and occasionally running away from tigers.
From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari
That all changed as the Premier League's global appeal mushroomed.
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026
Since last fall, when Kakaiya began selling the model, clinician interest has mushroomed.
From Slate ● Jun. 7, 2026
Complaints have mushroomed for months about World Cup ticket price fluctuations caused by sophisticated algorithms that can dramatically increase costs based on demand.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 5, 2026
The conflict has mushroomed to draw in nations around the Middle East, sending energy markets into a tailspin and threatening to torpedo the global economy.
From Barron's ● Mar. 26, 2026
The vision fizzled, and a poof of smoke mushroomed from its surface.
From "Witchlings" by Claribel A. Ortega
It is visible in the mushrooming of private schools in small towns and villages.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
Meanwhile, new LNG terminals were mushrooming on the Gulf Coast, and Qatar was on track to expand its export capacity more than 40% starting around midyear.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 7, 2026
New data centres -- warehouse-like facilities that store online files and power AI tools from chatbots to image generators -- are mushrooming worldwide, and the sector is growing particularly fast in Asia.
From Barron's ● Feb. 26, 2026
USC’s deficit grew dramatically during the final year of Folt’s tenure, mushrooming from $158 million to upwards of $200 million — an increase of more than 26%.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 3, 2025
Margie had three big brothers instead of one, and one day in October the whole bunch of them went out mushrooming.
From "Miracles on Maple Hill" by Virginia Sorensen
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.
