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:
But they are also excellent spooned onto little buns, topped with cheese and baked into mushroom sliders.
From Salon ● Sep. 14, 2026
Drolma’s team begins packing the best matsutakes into Styrofoam crates, pinching little creased pockets in the packing paper to cushion each 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
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
Because that night, while Clare was balancing atop his tallest chair, snipping down a mushroom to chop and pack into a glass bottle, a pair of glowing eyes appeared in his window.
From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman
Watch the mushrooms more than the clock; a mix containing oyster mushrooms behaves differently than a pan full of white buttons.
From Salon ● Sep. 14, 2026
And once my fall appetite returns — the appetite for the beige and the brown — I make mushrooms.
From Salon ● Sep. 14, 2026
There was no single revelation, just a lot of weeknight pans of mushrooms that gradually got better as I figured out what I liked.
From Salon ● Sep. 14, 2026
For several weeks each year, ethnic Tibetans in this village pluck matsutake mushrooms, a flavorful fungus that is believed to boast medicinal properties—and can make fortunes in this less-developed corner of China.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 12, 2026
“No skin off my tail. I’ll quit mushrooms and find some other business and you can just abandon Deadwood.”
From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman
To understand how the people mover mushroomed in price, let’s start at the beginning.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2026
That all changed as the Premier League's global appeal mushroomed.
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026
The difference between its VolDex series tracking expected volatility in the tech-laden Nasdaq 100 Index and one tracking the S&P 500 has mushroomed.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
Since last fall, when Kakaiya began selling the model, clinician interest has mushroomed.
From Slate ● Jun. 7, 2026
Again, racial equality was being forced upon the South by the federal government, and by 1956, Southern white opposition to desegregation mushroomed into a vicious backlash.
From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander
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
In nursing homes mushrooming across the Mexican border, elderly Americans are turning up for low-cost care.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 26, 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
“Sometimes I dream lightning strikes. Or earthquakes. Sometimes it’s dark clouds mushrooming in the sky. I wake troubled.”
From "Ghost Boys" by Jewell Parker Rhodes
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.
