sugar beet

American

noun

various cultivars of a beet, Beta vulgaris, of the amaranth family, having a white root, cultivated for the sugar it yields.

sugar beet British

noun

a variety of the plant Beta vulgaris that is cultivated for its white roots from which sugar is obtained Compare sugar cane

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of sugar beet

First recorded in 1810–20

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.

Sugar beet farmers have the green light to use a banned pesticide deadly to bees following a forecast that a virus could sweep through their crops.

From BBC • Mar. 4, 2024

Sugar beet leafhoppers may sound like a endearing bug dreamed up by Pixar, but they carry the beet curly top virus, devastating to sugar beet and tomato crops.

From The Verge • May 1, 2015

Sugar beet is grown commercially for sugar production.

From BBC • Nov. 5, 2014

Sugar beet yields may rise 20 percent to 70 percent and wheat yields by as much as 140 percent because the atmosphere is warming, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said today.

From BusinessWeek • Jan. 26, 2012

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023