fertilize
Americanverb (used with object)
-
Biology.
-
to render (the female gamete) capable of development by uniting it with the male gamete.
-
to fecundate or impregnate (an animal or plant).
-
-
to make fertile; enrich.
to fertilize farmland.
-
to make productive.
verb
-
to provide (an animal, plant, or egg cell) with sperm or pollen to bring about fertilization
-
to supply (soil or water) with mineral and organic nutrients to aid the growth of plants
-
to make fertile or productive
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
-
fertilizabilitynoun
-
overfertilizeverb (used with object)
-
prefertilizeverb (used with object)
-
refertilizeverb (used with object)
-
fertilizableadjective
-
refertilizableadjective
-
unfertilizableadjective
-
unfertilizedadjective
-
unfertilizingadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
fertilizesimple
-
fertilizessimple
-
have fertilizedperfect
-
has fertilizedperfect
-
am fertilizingprogressive
-
are fertilizingprogressive
-
is fertilizingprogressive
-
have been fertilizingperfect progressive
-
has been fertilizingperfect progressive
Past
-
fertilizedsimple
-
had fertilizedperfect
-
was fertilizingprogressive
-
were fertilizingprogressive
-
had been fertilizingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of fertilize
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:
And “if they fertilize the lawn around the pool, all that water that’s running in there is adding nitrogen and phosphorus,” she says.
From Slate ● Jun. 27, 2026
In regions north of the Antarctic Polar Front -- a boundary where cold Antarctic waters meet warmer waters to the north -- that dust helped fertilize algae.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 4, 2026
But syrup producers do not plant, irrigate, fertilize or use insecticides on their self-sufficient forests.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 24, 2025
Composting turns organic material, like food scraps, into a nutrient-rich mixture that can be used to fertilize new plants and crops.
From Salon ● Jan. 22, 2025
The only difference is you didn’t have to plant, water, fertilize, and weed the mushrooms.
From "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan
Dusky farmerfish in East Asia grow “crops” of red algae by assiduously “weeding out less palatable foods” and have effectively domesticated a type of shrimp whose waste fertilizes the algae and boosts yields.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026
By examining infrared light -- wavelengths invisible to the naked eye -- these incredibly precise images reveal how dust fertilizes the universe after being heated by both massive young stars and surrounding interstellar space radiation.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 17, 2024
The business-nature of professional sports continually fertilizes that feeling.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 12, 2023
In mammals, offspring are produced when males’ sperm fertilizes females’ eggs.
From Scientific American ● Aug. 1, 2023
The chicken manure fertilizes the grass, supplying all the nitrogen it needs.
From "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan
After four hours in simulated zero gravity, the number of successfully fertilized mouse eggs dropped by 30 per cent compared to normal Earth conditions.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 29, 2026
Three eggs had fertilized but none developed into embryos.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 14, 2025
The female carries the fertilized eggs for about 30 days.
From Slate ● Aug. 19, 2025
"We have these fertilized eggs from many, many different genetic backgrounds and we raise them over a series of days until we have coral babies, coral teenagers," she explains.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2025
She raked away our dead leaves, spaded new soil around us, and watered and fertilized.
From "The Wednesday Wars" by Gary D. Schmidt
“We’re probably fertilizing half the acres we normally would,” he said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 30, 2026
In clinical terms, IVF involves removing eggs from a woman, fertilizing them in a lab with sperm and implanting embryos in the uterus.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 14, 2025
The dung beetle, which disperses seeds as it rolls its dung balls, fertilizing topsoil and enhancing biodiversity and engineering its environment, normally orients itself using the Milky Way and the moon.
From Salon ● Apr. 15, 2025
The process involves collecting eggs from ovaries and fertilizing them with sperm in a lab, then implanting them in a uterus.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 31, 2024
And now Mariana’s offer is like cow manure, fertilizing it, nourishing it, reminding me of my power, my options.
From "The Queen of Water" by Laura Resau
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.
