pollinate
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
Other Word Forms
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.
While some bee-keepers aim only to produce honey, many others rent out their hives to farmers who need the insects to pollinate their crops.
From BBC • May 31, 2025
The discovery of a unique case where the same insect species both pollinate a plant and distribute its seeds not only solves a long-standing botanical mystery.
From Science Daily • Dec. 4, 2024
Insects pollinate plants, provide critical protein for all kinds of baby birds and nourish the soil.
From New York Times • Jun. 3, 2024
Ostensibly, it’s a song about bees looking for flowers to pollinate, but the opening lines make it clear that this is more than a nature documentary:
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 4, 2024
A third advantage of the Fertile Crescent flora is that it includes a high percentage of hermaphroditic “selfers”—that is, plants that usually pollinate themselves but that are occasionally cross-pollinated.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
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.
