sprout
Americanverb (used without object)
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sprouts,
present (3rd person singular)
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sprouted,
past participle, past
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sprouting
present participle
verb (used with object)
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sprouts,
present (3rd person singular)
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sprouted,
past participle, past
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sprouting
present participle
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to cause to sprout.
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to remove sprouts from.
Sprout and boil the potatoes.
noun
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sprouts
plural
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a shoot of a plant.
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a new growth from a germinating seed, or from a rootstock, tuber, bud, or the like.
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something resembling or suggesting a sprout, as in growth.
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a young person; youth.
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sprouts,
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the young shoots of alfalfa, soybeans, etc., eaten as a raw vegetable.
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verb
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(of a plant, seed, etc) to produce (new leaves, shoots, etc)
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to begin to grow or develop
new office blocks are sprouting up all over the city
noun
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a newly grown shoot or bud
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something that grows like a sprout
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See Brussels sprout
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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undersproutnoun
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resproutverb
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undersproutverb (used without object)
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nonsproutingadjective
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unsproutedadjective
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unsproutingadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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sproutsimple
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sproutssimple
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have sproutedperfect
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has sproutedperfect
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am sproutingprogressive
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are sproutingprogressive
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is sproutingprogressive
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have been sproutingperfect progressive
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has been sproutingperfect progressive
Past
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sproutedsimple
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had sproutedperfect
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was sproutingprogressive
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were sproutingprogressive
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had been sproutingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of sprout
1150–1200; (v.) Middle English spr ( o ) uten, Old English -sprūtan, in āsproten (past participle; see a- 3); cognate with Middle Dutch sprūten, German spriessen to sprout; akin to Greek speírein to scatter; (noun) Middle English; compare Middle Dutch, Middle Low German sprute
Explanation
A sprout is a small growth on a plant — a little new bud. Other things can sprout too: kids are constantly sprouting (growing). The key thing to think of when you're trying to remember the meaning of sprout is growth — as a noun, a sprout is a new growth of a plant, and as a verb, to sprout means to grow. Sprouting mainly applies to height and to the young, whether you're talking about plants, people, or things. An older person who gains fifty pounds is growing but not sprouting.
Vocabulary lists containing sprout
Bud, Not Buddy
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Seedfolks
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Old Yeller
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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:
Recalling where certain plants sprout first in the spring can help hungry animals find important nutrients.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 29, 2026
The Buck Moon - named after the time male deer sprout new antlers - will rise on 29 July.
From BBC ● Jun. 28, 2026
When her first order, a kale and brussels sprout salad, arrived, she said she was shocked at how big it was.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 17, 2026
Potato flatbread with spruce sprout pesto and pickled white currant.
From Salon ● Mar. 8, 2026
When there was rain and sun in proportion so that the seed would sprout in the land and the stalk bear grain, he did not consider himself poor.
From "The Good Earth" by Pearl S. Buck
The Minneapolis-based company, which also sells under the Calco brand, said it hasn’t received any reports of illnesses involving the sprouts.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026
Uniforms that sprouts porcupine quills at the tug of a collar?
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 15, 2026
The fields of Eshtiwi show only the first faint signs of growth in June, with small green sprouts emerging around the village.
From Barron's ● Jul. 1, 2026
One example is a multipaneled sketch that shows what happens when you drop a seed and watch it grow in stages, first when it sprouts and then when leaves come out.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 16, 2026
Ama drops the petal to the ground and watches as the entire garden sprouts flames.
From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer
England will want to build on the green shoots of recovery that sprouted in Leeds.
From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026
Fans marched to last Thursday’s afternoon game with Qatar wearing Canadian flags draped over their shoulders and headdresses that sprouted small maple leafs.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 23, 2026
Other factories sprouted, making such products as door hinges and coffee pots.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 6, 2026
Surveillance software sprouted in every cranny of the ballpark, first in service of providing more data for teams and front offices to pore over, then as fuel for ever more esoteric betting propositions.
From Salon ● Apr. 13, 2026
On the way to Carmen’s, we passed the floribunda bush that hadn’t sprouted a bud.
From "The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora" by Pablo Cartaya
Dozens of the black and blue pillars have been sprayed since they began sprouting earlier this year.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
This struggle is exactly why so many social clubs have been sprouting up in L.A. over the last few years.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 23, 2026
Images of seabirds, fish, and sprouting maize appear together on textiles, ceramics, pottery, wall carvings and paintings.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 7, 2026
"The seeds are sprouting and the harvest is coming," Hichilema said, touting a planned nationwide geological survey to map untapped deposits.
From Barron's ● Feb. 15, 2026
I was a child of fourteen, while he and Willem were already university men, sprouting straggly beards and breathing out cigar smoke with their conversation.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
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.
