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

Japan is haunted by the memory of a massive 9.0-magnitude undersea quake in 2011, which triggered a tsunami that killed or left missing around 18,500 people and wrecked the Fukushima nuclear plant.

From Barron's ● Jul. 28, 2026

Revenue from Ford Pro fell to $17.8 billion from $18.8 billion, reflecting product discontinuation and production disruptions from last year’s fires at a Novelis aluminum-rolling plant.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026

The invasive plant has been present in Britain and Ireland since the early 19th Century.

From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026

Buzzy startup Figure AI already assembles robots at its plant in San Jose, California, and Agility has a factory in Salem, Oregon, where it can produce up to 10,000 robots annually.

From Barron's ● Jul. 28, 2026

“Frond,” Alexander corrected, for the plant in question was, in fact, a fern, and thus its leaves were properly called fronds.

From "The Hidden Gallery" by Maryrose Wood

The so-called "Seveso" sites include plants that manufacture hazardous materials for missiles and rockets.

From BBC ● Jul. 29, 2026

Several power plants across the West African nation were forced to shut down in the early hours of Wednesday morning, the state-run power distribution company said.

From BBC ● Jul. 29, 2026

TNT, an explosive, will soon be produced in the U.S. for the first time in decades, and three companies are building TNT plants in Europe.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026

They were all for clean energy, many to address climate change, and include investments in new battery plants, upgrades for the electrical grid and initiatives to take carbon out of the air.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026

On March 11, 2011, the plants were hit by a one-two punch: First, there was the earthquake, the strongest ever measured in Japan.

From "Meltdown" by Deirdre Langeland

I hastened my step to my car, not dawdling for a second to check messages once planted in the driver’s seat.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026

He highlighted that City Hall had planted 640,000 trees and was empowering communities to transform areas through the mayor's £12m Green Roots Fund.

From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026

Kazaryan planted his orchard in 1991, after the collapse of the Soviet Union when farmland was distributed to private owners.

From Barron's ● Jul. 14, 2026

I started raising monarch butterflies because my identical twin sister, who played my twin on the show, planted a butterfly garden.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2026

Not one of the trees I planted, some of which died pretty quickly, but a little plant that just popped up on its own.

From "Wayward Creatures" by Dayna Lorentz

Despite the findings, the researchers emphasize that people should continue planting flowers to support pollinators.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 7, 2026

The president, John McLenaghan, welcomed the plan, including a measure designed to simplify the process of accessing grants and information to facilitate planting.

From BBC ● Jul. 7, 2026

Along the highway from Ankara airport to the city centre, municipal workers have been planting flowers and installing giant billboards to shield views of dilapidated homes and poorer neighbourhoods.

From Barron's ● Jul. 4, 2026

“You must be held strictly accountable for your lab’s raw data. If you refuse to manage it, you are actively planting a ticking time bomb under your own career.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026

I was ready to start planting last week, but Karl and Rooster Jim both laughed at me.

From "Hattie Big Sky" by Kirby Larson

Related Words

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