plant

American  

[plant, plahnt] / plænt, plɑnt /

noun

• plants
  plural

1. Botany. any member of the kingdom Plantae, comprising multicellular organisms that typically produce their own food from inorganic matter by the process of photosynthesis and that have more or less rigid cell walls containing cellulose, including vascular plants, mosses, liverworts, and hornworts: some classification schemes may include fungi, algae, bacteria, and certain single-celled eukaryotes that have plantlike qualities, as rigid cell walls or the use of photosynthesis.

2. an herb or other small vegetable growth, in contrast with a tree or a shrub.

3. a seedling or a growing slip, especially one ready for transplanting.

4. the equipment, including the fixtures, machinery, tools, etc., and often the buildings, necessary to carry on any industrial business.

   a manufacturing plant.

5. the complete equipment or apparatus for a particular mechanical process or operation.

   the heating plant for a home.

6. the buildings, equipment, etc., of an institution.

   the sprawling plant of the university.

7. Slang. something intended to trap, decoy, or lure, as criminals.

8. Slang. a scheme to trap, trick, swindle, or defraud.

9. a person, placed in an audience, whose rehearsed or prepared reactions, comments, etc., appear spontaneous to the rest of the audience.

10. a person placed secretly in a group or organization, as by a foreign government, to obtain internal or secret information, stir up discontent, etc.

11. Theater. a line of dialogue, or a character, action, etc., introducing an idea or theme that will be further developed at a later point in the play.

    Afterward we remembered the suicide plant in the second act.

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verb (used with object)

• plants,
  present (3rd person singular)
• planted,
  past participle,  past
• planting
  present participle

1. to put or set in the ground for growth, as seeds, young trees, etc.

2. to furnish or stock (land) with plants.

   to plant a section with corn.

3. to establish or implant (ideas, principles, doctrines, etc.).

   to plant a love for learning in growing children.

4. to introduce (a breed of animals) into a country.

5. to deposit (young fish, or spawn) in a river, lake, etc.

6. to bed (oysters).

7. to insert or set firmly in or on the ground or some other body or surface.

   to plant posts along a road.

8. Theater. to insert or place (an idea, person, or thing) in a play.

9. to place; put.

10. to place with great force, firmness, or determination.

    He planted himself in the doorway as if daring us to try to enter. He planted a big kiss on his son's cheek.

11. to station; post.

    to plant a police officer on every corner.

12. to locate; situate.

    Branch stores are planted all over.

13. to establish (a colony, city, etc.); found.

14. to settle (persons), as in a colony.

15. to say or place (something) in order to obtain a desired result, especially one that will seem spontaneous.

    The police planted the story in the newspaper in order to trap the thief.

16. Carpentry. to nail, glue, or otherwise attach (a molding or the like) to a surface.

17. to place (a person) secretly in a group to function as a spy or to promote discord.

18. Slang. to hide or conceal, as stolen goods.

plant ¹ British  

/ plɑːnt /

noun

1. any living organism that typically synthesizes its food from inorganic substances, possesses cellulose cell walls, responds slowly and often permanently to a stimulus, lacks specialized sense organs and nervous system, and has no powers of locomotion

2. such an organism that is green, terrestrial, and smaller than a shrub or tree; a herb

3. a cutting, seedling, or similar structure, esp when ready for transplantation

4. informal a thing positioned secretly for discovery by another, esp in order to incriminate an innocent person

5. billiards snooker a position in which the cue ball can be made to strike an intermediate which then pockets another ball

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verb

1. (often foll by out) to set (seeds, crops, etc) into (ground) to grow

2. to place firmly in position

3. to establish; found

4. to implant in the mind

5. slang to deliver (a blow)

6. informal to position or hide, esp in order to deceive or observe

7. to place (young fish, oysters, spawn, etc) in (a lake, river, etc) in order to stock the water

plant ² British  

/ plɑːnt /

noun

1. 1. the land, buildings, and equipment used in carrying on an industrial, business, or other undertaking or service

   2. ( as modifier )

      plant costs

2. a factory or workshop

3. mobile mechanical equipment for construction, road-making, etc

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plant Scientific  

/ plănt /

1. Any of a wide variety of multicellular eukaryotic organisms, belonging to the kingdom Plantae and including the bryophytes and vascular plants. Plant cells have cell walls made of cellulose. Except for a few specialized symbionts, plants have chlorophyll and manufacture their own food through photosynthesis. Most plants grow in a fixed location and reproduce sexually, showing an alternation of generations between a diploid stage (with each cell having two sets of chromosomes) and haploid stage (with each cell having one set of chromosomes) in their life cycle. The first fossil plants date from the Silurian period. Formerly the algae, slime molds, dinoflagellates, and fungi, among other groups, were classified as plants, but now these are considered to belong to other kingdoms.

2. See Table at taxonomy

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• subplant
  noun
• misplant
  verb (used with object)
• overplant
  verb (used with object)
• preplant
  verb (used with object)
• underplant
  verb (used with object)
• plantable
  adjective
• plantless
  adjective
• plantlike
  adjective
• self-planted
  adjective
• unplantable
  adjective
• unplanted
  adjective
• well-planted
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• plants
  plural

Participles

• planting
  present
• planted
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• plant
  simple
• plants
  simple
• have planted
  perfect
• has planted
  perfect
• am planting
  progressive
• are planting
  progressive
• is planting
  progressive
• have been planting
  perfect progressive
• has been planting
  perfect progressive

Past

• planted
  simple
• had planted
  perfect
• was planting
  progressive
• were planting
  progressive
• had been planting
  perfect progressive

Future

• will plant
  simple
• will have planted
  perfect
• will be planting
  progressive
• will have been planting
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of plant

First recorded before 900; Middle English noun plaunt(e), plant(e); in part continuing Old English plante “sapling, young plant,” from Latin planta “a shoot, sprig, scion (for planting), plant”; in part from Old French plante, from Latin planta; Middle English verb plaunten, planten; in part continuing Old English plantian, from Latin plantāre “to plant”; in part from Old French planter, from Latin plantāre

Explanation

A plant is a living thing that loves dirt, sun, and water but can’t move. That tree outside? Plant. Your dog? Not a plant. A plant can also be a factory, like a nuclear power plant. Trees, flowers, and vegetables are all plants, and you help them get started every time you plant a seed in soil. Another kind of plant is a factory or another business where goods are manufactured, and then there's the plant that means "spy or informer." The Latin root of plant is planta, "sprout or shoot," which may stem from plantare, "push into the ground with the feet," from planta, "sole of the foot."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

plant plants planted planting

In real life it is a warehouse of expensive computers, a power line, a cooling plant and a cable.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 14, 2026

It is also due to deep evolutionary roots, as many animal and plant groups originated here in the distant past.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 13, 2026

In September, Tesla exported 30,529 units made at its Shanghai plant and sold 95,366 units.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026

At Jamshedpur in Jharkhand state, where the group set up India's first integrated steel plant and an industrial city, it provides healthcare and education to people in hundreds of villages.

From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2026

I plant my feet far apart, knees bent, and stand like a ninja trying to hold my balance between the three cans of paint we just bought and Dad’s Rubbermaid tub of painting supplies.

From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam

Both countries, he asserted, wouldn’t strike power plants, the grid or refineries.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026

“Adding to that, the plants are very dry.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026

Nations are steeling for a disappointing report card at this month's UN biodiversity summit, with governments falling short on their commitments to protect the plants, animals and ecosystems that sustain life on Earth.

From Barron's ● Oct. 12, 2026

"At present entire truckloads of plants or fresh produce can be destroyed because of a single missing stamp or a minor paperwork delay," he said.

From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2026

Then we are to document which plants and animals live nearby and how they interact with one another and their water source.

From "Clairboyance" by Kristiana Kahakauwila

Of all the flowers the family have planted in Mabel's garden, Emma's favourite are the lilies.

From BBC ● Oct. 14, 2026

"Since the first trees were planted, there has been a spectacular increase in butterflies, dragonflies, and biodiversity in general," said the 43-year-old, who took over running the family's Cascina Oschina farm in 2012.

From Barron's ● Oct. 12, 2026

Officials in Seoul said the mines were almost certainly deliberately planted by North Korea.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026

But they said they would always talk about her big brother William and had planted a memorial garden in his honour.

From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026

Among the evergreen pine trees, Nazis had stealthily planted larch trees.

From Nazi Saboteurs by Samantha Seiple

A Saudi employee of OpenAI was arrested after allegedly planting a recording device in one of the company's San Francisco offices, the AI firm and federal prosecutors said Tuesday.

From Barron's ● Oct. 13, 2026

At the planting of ceramic poppies at the Tower of London, he handed Queen Camilla the last poppy to be placed to mark VE Day 80, according to the Spirit of Normandy.

From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2026

“Mr. O’Malley spun his ever-present cigar, paused for just a second and replied, ‘I want to be remembered for planting a tree.’

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026

The solution, she proposed, was El-Sayed planting his feet on the ground in those areas and speaking out against the bad practices of Arab business owners in Black communities.

From Slate ● Oct. 6, 2026

I had been regarding the field, the tractor—the valley—and the planting and garden, all as things of mine, to do or to worry about.

From "Z for Zachariah" by Robert C. O’Brien

Related Words

• bury
• cover
• farm
• grow
• implant
• raise
• scatter
• sow
• transplant