transplant
Americanverb (used with object)
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to remove (a plant) from one place and plant it in another.
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Surgery. to transfer (an organ, tissue, etc.) from one part of the body to another or from one person or animal to another.
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to move from one place to another.
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to bring (a family, colony, etc.) from one country, region, etc., to another for settlement; relocate.
verb (used without object)
noun
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the act or process of transplanting.
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a plant, organ, person, etc., that has been transplanted.
verb
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(tr) to remove or transfer (esp a plant) from one place to another
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(intr) to be capable of being transplanted
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surgery to transfer (an organ or tissue) from one part of the body to another or from one person or animal to another during a grafting or transplant operation
noun
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A plant that has been uprooted and replanted.
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A surgical procedure in a human or animal in which a body tissue or organ is transferred from a donor to a recipient or from one part of the body to another. Heart, lung, liver, kidney, corneal, and bone-marrow transplants are performed to treat life-threatening illness. Donated tissue must be histocompatible with that of the recipient to prevent immunological rejection.
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See also graft
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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retransplantationnoun
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transplantationnoun
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transplanternoun
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transplantableadjective
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untransplantedadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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transplantsimple
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transplantssimple
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have transplantedperfect
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has transplantedperfect
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am transplantingprogressive
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are transplantingprogressive
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is transplantingprogressive
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have been transplantingperfect progressive
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has been transplantingperfect progressive
Past
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transplantedsimple
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had transplantedperfect
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was transplantingprogressive
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were transplantingprogressive
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had been transplantingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of transplant
1400–50; late Middle English < Late Latin trānsplantāre, equivalent to Latin trāns- trans- + plantāre to plant
Explanation
Use the verb transplant to describe what you do when you move a cactus into a bigger container, or what a doctor does when she places a donor organ — like a kidney or lung — into the body of a patient. When you transplant your favorite rose bush, you carefully dig it up and re-plant it in another spot in the yard, maybe one that gets more sunlight. You can also use the word as a noun to describe the act of doing such a thing: "The liver transplant was a success." The word's origin is simple: the Latin trans, or "across," plus plantare, which means "to plant."
Vocabulary lists containing transplant
“For the Herd’s Sake, Vaccinate" by Steven L. Weinreb
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The Chocolate War
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This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for January 29–February 4, 2022
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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.
Nidal al-Arir wails on the ground, pleading for his son, who needs a corneal transplant.
From BBC • Jul. 2, 2026
"Which transplant center you go to, where you live, and even whether you are married all appear to influence your chances of moving forward to the waitlist for a new kidney."
From Science Daily • Jul. 1, 2026
The deal focuses on Memo’s experimental drug potravitug for the treatment of nephropathy associated with BK polyomavirus, a complication in kidney transplant recipients, Ipsen said.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jul. 1, 2026
According to Donnelly, the complexity of the transplant evaluation process may explain much of the variation seen in the study.
From Science Daily • Jul. 1, 2026
But nothing is going to get me back on a lung transplant list.
From "Five Feet Apart" by Rachael Lippincott
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.
