plant

American  

[plant, plahnt] / plænt, plɑnt /

noun

• plants
  plural

1. Botany. any member of the kingdom Plantae, comprising multicellular organisms that typically produce their own food from inorganic matter by the process of photosynthesis and that have more or less rigid cell walls containing cellulose, including vascular plants, mosses, liverworts, and hornworts: some classification schemes may include fungi, algae, bacteria, and certain single-celled eukaryotes that have plantlike qualities, as rigid cell walls or the use of photosynthesis.

2. an herb or other small vegetable growth, in contrast with a tree or a shrub.

3. a seedling or a growing slip, especially one ready for transplanting.

4. the equipment, including the fixtures, machinery, tools, etc., and often the buildings, necessary to carry on any industrial business.

   a manufacturing plant.

5. the complete equipment or apparatus for a particular mechanical process or operation.

   the heating plant for a home.

6. the buildings, equipment, etc., of an institution.

   the sprawling plant of the university.

7. Slang. something intended to trap, decoy, or lure, as criminals.

8. Slang. a scheme to trap, trick, swindle, or defraud.

9. a person, placed in an audience, whose rehearsed or prepared reactions, comments, etc., appear spontaneous to the rest of the audience.

10. a person placed secretly in a group or organization, as by a foreign government, to obtain internal or secret information, stir up discontent, etc.

11. Theater. a line of dialogue, or a character, action, etc., introducing an idea or theme that will be further developed at a later point in the play.

    Afterward we remembered the suicide plant in the second act.

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verb (used with object)

• plants,
  present (3rd person singular)
• planted,
  past participle,  past
• planting
  present participle

1. to put or set in the ground for growth, as seeds, young trees, etc.

2. to furnish or stock (land) with plants.

   to plant a section with corn.

3. to establish or implant (ideas, principles, doctrines, etc.).

   to plant a love for learning in growing children.

4. to introduce (a breed of animals) into a country.

5. to deposit (young fish, or spawn) in a river, lake, etc.

6. to bed (oysters).

7. to insert or set firmly in or on the ground or some other body or surface.

   to plant posts along a road.

8. Theater. to insert or place (an idea, person, or thing) in a play.

9. to place; put.

10. to place with great force, firmness, or determination.

    He planted himself in the doorway as if daring us to try to enter. He planted a big kiss on his son's cheek.

11. to station; post.

    to plant a police officer on every corner.

12. to locate; situate.

    Branch stores are planted all over.

13. to establish (a colony, city, etc.); found.

14. to settle (persons), as in a colony.

15. to say or place (something) in order to obtain a desired result, especially one that will seem spontaneous.

    The police planted the story in the newspaper in order to trap the thief.

16. Carpentry. to nail, glue, or otherwise attach (a molding or the like) to a surface.

17. to place (a person) secretly in a group to function as a spy or to promote discord.

18. Slang. to hide or conceal, as stolen goods.

plant ¹ British  

/ plɑːnt /

noun

1. any living organism that typically synthesizes its food from inorganic substances, possesses cellulose cell walls, responds slowly and often permanently to a stimulus, lacks specialized sense organs and nervous system, and has no powers of locomotion

2. such an organism that is green, terrestrial, and smaller than a shrub or tree; a herb

3. a cutting, seedling, or similar structure, esp when ready for transplantation

4. informal a thing positioned secretly for discovery by another, esp in order to incriminate an innocent person

5. billiards snooker a position in which the cue ball can be made to strike an intermediate which then pockets another ball

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verb

1. (often foll by out) to set (seeds, crops, etc) into (ground) to grow

2. to place firmly in position

3. to establish; found

4. to implant in the mind

5. slang to deliver (a blow)

6. informal to position or hide, esp in order to deceive or observe

7. to place (young fish, oysters, spawn, etc) in (a lake, river, etc) in order to stock the water

plant ² British  

/ plɑːnt /

noun

1. 1. the land, buildings, and equipment used in carrying on an industrial, business, or other undertaking or service

   2. ( as modifier )

      plant costs

2. a factory or workshop

3. mobile mechanical equipment for construction, road-making, etc

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plant Scientific  

/ plănt /

1. Any of a wide variety of multicellular eukaryotic organisms, belonging to the kingdom Plantae and including the bryophytes and vascular plants. Plant cells have cell walls made of cellulose. Except for a few specialized symbionts, plants have chlorophyll and manufacture their own food through photosynthesis. Most plants grow in a fixed location and reproduce sexually, showing an alternation of generations between a diploid stage (with each cell having two sets of chromosomes) and haploid stage (with each cell having one set of chromosomes) in their life cycle. The first fossil plants date from the Silurian period. Formerly the algae, slime molds, dinoflagellates, and fungi, among other groups, were classified as plants, but now these are considered to belong to other kingdoms.

2. See Table at taxonomy

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• subplant
  noun
• misplant
  verb (used with object)
• overplant
  verb (used with object)
• preplant
  verb (used with object)
• underplant
  verb (used with object)
• plantable
  adjective
• plantless
  adjective
• plantlike
  adjective
• self-planted
  adjective
• unplantable
  adjective
• unplanted
  adjective
• well-planted
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• plants
  plural

Participles

• planting
  present
• planted
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• plant
  simple
• plants
  simple
• have planted
  perfect
• has planted
  perfect
• am planting
  progressive
• are planting
  progressive
• is planting
  progressive
• have been planting
  perfect progressive
• has been planting
  perfect progressive

Past

• planted
  simple
• had planted
  perfect
• was planting
  progressive
• were planting
  progressive
• had been planting
  perfect progressive

Future

• will plant
  simple
• will have planted
  perfect
• will be planting
  progressive
• will have been planting
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of plant

First recorded before 900; Middle English noun plaunt(e), plant(e); in part continuing Old English plante “sapling, young plant,” from Latin planta “a shoot, sprig, scion (for planting), plant”; in part from Old French plante, from Latin planta; Middle English verb plaunten, planten; in part continuing Old English plantian, from Latin plantāre “to plant”; in part from Old French planter, from Latin plantāre

Explanation

A plant is a living thing that loves dirt, sun, and water but can’t move. That tree outside? Plant. Your dog? Not a plant. A plant can also be a factory, like a nuclear power plant. Trees, flowers, and vegetables are all plants, and you help them get started every time you plant a seed in soil. Another kind of plant is a factory or another business where goods are manufactured, and then there's the plant that means "spy or informer." The Latin root of plant is planta, "sprout or shoot," which may stem from plantare, "push into the ground with the feet," from planta, "sole of the foot."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

plant plants planted planting

Oxfordshire County Council has urged the UK government to reopen the Newport plant to help with the "crisis".

From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2026

At a plant in Sherman, Texas, roughly the size of a football field, Cisco competitor Coherent makes lasers for iPhones — and for data centers.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 19, 2026

Meta’s website states that when a user asks Meta AI about what’s in front of them, like a menu or plant, the camera gets activated so the AI assistant can help answer the question.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026

The Canadian government, alongside regional authorities, had provided roughly $710 million to Stellantis to help with plant reconfiguration, conditional on the company meeting certain production and employment thresholds.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026

Not a plant, or a hole, or a sharp piece of rock.

From "Rowan of Rin" by Emily Rodda

Diatoms, sea sponges, and certain plants use biological molecules and organic scaffolds to collect dissolved silicon and build complex silica structures under relatively mild conditions.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 19, 2026

It spreads a bacterium—Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus—as it sucks sap from the plants, traveling from grove to grove with little more than a light breeze.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 19, 2026

Critics said the overhaul opened up a path for advanced manufacturing facilities such as strip miners, chemical producers, battery recyclers and semiconductor plants to open in communities without any environmental review.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2026

Volunteers have hand-grown more than 11,500 individual specialist plants.

From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026

Today the sky was blue and the plants high.

From "Nory Ryan’s Song" by Patricia Reilly Giff

She sat on the windowsill, occasionally going over to peek out through the front door, but the big red flag she had planted advertising the showing wasn’t drawing much attention.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026

About 30,000 square feet of asphalt was removed, and 35 trees were planted at Esperanza Elementary School, increasing green space across the campus from 9% to 37%, according to the Los Angeles Unified School District.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 13, 2026

The following spring, Georgia’s surveyor-general Henry Yonge planted Bowen’s unfamiliar “Chinese vetches” and harvested three crops in a single season.

From Salon ● Sep. 13, 2026

So far, this summer the program has planted 615 coral, with 228 of those part of the thermal bleaching study.

From Barron's ● Sep. 10, 2026

We shovel until the piles are gone and the trees are planted.

From "Wayward Creatures" by Dayna Lorentz

He’s betting that as more people understand what’s at stake, they will keep showing up — even if they are planting trees for a future he’ll never see.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2026

The free AI assistant is meant to provide quick answers to questions about planting, harvesting or other business decisions.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026

These spiritual spots somehow pulled us into history while planting us in the present.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 6, 2026

They are doing this in a range of ways from planting trees and growing vegetables, to leading bug hunts and rediscovering nature.

From BBC ● Sep. 5, 2026

It seems that this season of sowing is not simply about planting flax and wheat.

From "Hattie Big Sky" by Kirby Larson

Related Words

• bury
• cover
• farm
• grow
• implant
• raise
• scatter
• sow
• transplant