seedling
Americannoun
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a plant or tree grown from a seed.
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a tree not yet 3 feet (1 meter) high.
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any young plant, especially one grown in a nursery for transplanting.
noun
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A young plant, especially one that grows from a seed rather than from a cutting.
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See Note at germination
Etymology
Origin of seedling
Vocabulary lists containing seedling
Plants (Botany) - Introduction
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Plants (Botany) - Middle School
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Plants (Botany) - High School
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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.
In the shade beneath the fading giant, a seedling had sprouted.
From Los Angeles Times • May 19, 2026
"It was only then that we were able to see that PEX11 is clearly involved in controlling the growth of the peroxisome during the seed to seedling stage."
From Science Daily • Apr. 25, 2026
It’s using AI to pore over drone footage and calculate seedling survival rates—a process that’s typically labor-intensive.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 24, 2026
Once the seedling has matured into a sapling, it will be planted in Windsor Great Park.
From BBC • May 27, 2024
I wrote Winnie two letters about a particularly beautiful tomato plant, how I coaxed it from a tender seedling to a robust plant that produced deep red fruit.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
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.
