self-pollinate
Americanverb (used with or without object)
Etymology
Origin of self-pollinate
First recorded in 1885–90
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.
When cranberries don't self-pollinate, they rely on bumblebees and honeybees to transport their pollen from flower to flower.
From Salon • Nov. 9, 2023
In rice, seed companies must first develop a strain of plants that can’t self-pollinate.
From Science Magazine • May 17, 2023
Most cucumbers can’t self-pollinate, which means that they need the pollen of another plant to form seeds and fruit.
From Seattle Times • Jun. 11, 2022
However, they could either self-pollinate or reproduce with other autopolyploid plants with gametes having the same diploid number.
From Textbooks • Jun. 9, 2022
The work is painstaking and very slow ” Phil Lambdon, Kew Gardens But even then because there are no other individuals in existence, the tree must self-pollinate, which it stubbornly resists.
From BBC • Jan. 19, 2010
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.
