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

Fridges from the UK are now being exported to Europe to meet demand, with only one more UK processing plant due to open next year.

From BBC ● Aug. 29, 2026

Chinese producers use American sulfur to manufacture phosphate fertilizers, which supply phosphorus—one of the three primary plant nutrients along with nitrogen and potassium.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026

According to the union representing plant workers, chronic illness is widespread among Haziri's former colleagues.

From Barron's ● Aug. 28, 2026

For agricultural land, those conditions can be beneficial because they support plant production.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 28, 2026

That’s about enough to make a single particle of dust jump—far from what’s needed to turn the turbines of a power plant.

From "Meltdown" by Deirdre Langeland

The three closures - due to a fire, bankruptcy and a change of use - have been compounded by this year's heat waves, as the remaining plants cannot operate above 30 degrees Celsius.

From BBC ● Aug. 29, 2026

The recycling of white goods is handled by 15 producer compliance schemes, who coordinate the collection, recycling and disposal of units from the UK, increasingly via European processing plants.

From BBC ● Aug. 29, 2026

Kosovo's parliament has formally declared Obilic, sandwiched between two plants, an "environmentally endangered zone" because of persistent pollution.

From Barron's ● Aug. 28, 2026

By 1778 Linnaeus had put names to 12,000 animals and plants, a vanishingly small proportion of the millions of species on Earth.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026

It took three years, but in 1983, Crisafulli found evidence that the first microscopic plants had begun to colonize the lake.

From "Mountain of Fire" by Rebecca E. F. Barone

Besides last summer’s interrupted logging job, several hundred acres of fast-growing loblolly planted in 2017 and 2018 are coming due for thinning.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026

Although his canvases typically sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars, when he completed a large mural for the Palestinian Museum, his requested fee was only a fig tree to be planted in the garden.

From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026

At the VIP barrier of the Orion Stage, a set of fans planted their flag early on.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2026

They have vivid memories of prior asset bubbles, from the fiber optic investment boom of the dot-com era to the mortgage-backed securities binge that planted the seeds of the global financial crisis.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 2026

The giant log where Clare had recently planted the feather whites had been kicked down the gentle incline, killing every precious blue-blue in its wake.

From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman

Howard is planting fewer seedlings per acre to reduce upfront costs and thinning.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026

And some timberland owners, worried that planting could saddle their heirs with trees they won’t be able to sell, are rethinking the future.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026

But their historic style of planting and ancient trees are being hammered by climate change -- including record heatwaves and drought this summer.

From Barron's ● Aug. 25, 2026

"The conservation volunteers have been preparing the site by creating ponds and planting willow," Thallon said.

From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026

Ella finally made her way to the Arcanum entry hall, planting herself on the Institute’s golden seal—the five-pointed star.

From "The Marvellers" by Dhonielle Clayton

Related Words

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