pollinate
Americanverb (used with object)
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pollinates,
present (3rd person singular)
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pollinated,
past participle, past
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pollinating
present participle
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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pollinatesimple
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pollinatessimple
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have pollinatedperfect
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has pollinatedperfect
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am pollinatingprogressive
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are pollinatingprogressive
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is pollinatingprogressive
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have been pollinatingperfect progressive
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has been pollinatingperfect progressive
Past
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pollinatedsimple
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had pollinatedperfect
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was pollinatingprogressive
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were pollinatingprogressive
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had been pollinatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of pollinate
1870–75; < New Latin pollin- (stem of pollen ) pollen + -ate 1
Explanation
To pollinate is to move the pollen from one plant to another. When a bee, for example, pollinates a flower, it helps the plant reproduce. You know what they say about the birds and the bees... In some cases, plants pollinate with the help of the wind, while often it takes an insect or bird moving the grainy substance called pollen between plants. This process involves pollen being transferred to the female parts of a plant, where fertilization takes place. Pollinate comes from the Latin word pollination, and its root, pollen, or "fine flour."
Vocabulary lists containing pollinate
Life Science: Plants
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Buzzwords for National Honey Bee Day
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Life Science IV
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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:
Some indoor farms do not have bees, and growers pay workers to pollinate flowers by hand.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2026
The insects were identified as Andrena regularis, commonly called the "regular mining bee," a solitary wild bee species that nests underground and helps pollinate crops and wild plants.
From Science Daily ● May 28, 2026
Bees don't pollinate grass and trees - they pollinate flowers, which don't cause hay fever.
From BBC ● Jun. 13, 2025
Those don't sound like organisms that anybody actively wants to lure, but these bugs are helping to pollinate the plant.
From Salon ● May 27, 2025
“Exactly. That’s what monoculture means: Everything the same. After enough orchids build up in an area, there aren’t enough hummingbirds to pollinate them. You know, to spread the seeds.”
From "Uglies" by Scott Westerfeld
In some plant insect relationships, the insect both pollinates the plant and uses the fruit as a place for its offspring to grow.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 12, 2026
The tequila bat feeds on the flowers of the agave—a kind of succulent—and pollinates them.
From Science Magazine ● Oct. 11, 2023
It self pollinates as it has both male and female flowers and the opening and closing of doors in the palm house is enough passage of air for this to happen.
From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2021
“Each fig species has a specific wasp type that pollinates the flower inside the fruit,” he said.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 14, 2018
The Carpathian "D", apparently, pollinates the Crath No. 1 well.
From Northern Nut Growers Association Report of the Proceedings at the 41st Annual Meeting Pleasant Valley, New York, August 28, 29 and 30, 1950 by Northern Nut Growers Association
Pumpkins need to be pollinated to produce fruit.
From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2025
Over the decades, that seed has grown into a wild and unruly tangle of misinformation and hysteria, amply pollinated by social media, wellness influencers, and a lack of science literacy.
From Slate ● Sep. 29, 2024
Plants that are pollinated by insects and have to defend themselves against herbivores have evolved to be better adapted to different types of soil.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 19, 2024
Many of the pollinated flowers lead to the fruits and vegetables that humans and other animals depend upon.
From NewsForKids.net ● May 13, 2024
Through pollinated air she saw a glorious being coming up the road.
From "Their Eyes Were Watching God" by Zora Neale Hurston
Species-rich grasslands offer important habitat for pollinating insects, birds and mammals.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 23, 2026
Farmers pay Funkhouser to truck his bees across the country -- as far as the almond fields of California -- where they spend around two weeks pollinating crops.
From Barron's ● May 19, 2026
Honeybees are a vital part of food production and contribute to pollinating 70% of leading global crops.
From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2025
They are also, not incidentally, highly useful to human society, producing honey and beeswax — both of which are used in a wide range of products — while also pollinating the plants that feed us.
From Salon ● Apr. 17, 2025
Powerful sprayers direct a stream of poison to all parts of the tallest trees, killing directly not only the target organism, the bark beetle, but other insects, including pollinating species and predatory spiders and beetles.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
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