transplant
Americanverb (used with object)
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transplants,
present (3rd person singular)
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transplanted,
past participle, past
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transplanting
present participle
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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)
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transplants,
present (3rd person singular)
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transplanted,
past participle, past
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transplanting
present participle
noun
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transplants
plural
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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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retransplantverb (used with object)
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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.
See Examples For:
In a statement, NHS England said transplant services are "complex and impacted by many factors, including the number of organs made available for transplantation, but the NHS is working hard to improve these lifesaving services".
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026
The 26-year-old, who underwent a heart transplant in 2012, began taking an off-label prescription for everolimus, a generic version of Novartis’s anti-rejection drug Zortress, a year later.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 13, 2026
The state has tracked data for 72 workers who have undergone lung transplants and 51 workers who have been referred for lung transplant evaluations.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026
The coastal village of Onna -- home to the Okinawa science institute -- has been spearheading efforts since 1999 to breed corals and transplant them into the sea.
From Barron's ● Jul. 29, 2026
“Can’t I just get like a lung transplant or something?”
From "The Fault in Our Stars" by John Green
"NHS England is leading a programme of work which is already helping to increase the number of transplants, reduce variation, identify suitable patients earlier and improve access," it added.
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026
“The percentage of workers who have either received lung transplants or who are awaiting lung transplants is astoundingly high.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026
Biliary atresia is the leading cause of pediatric liver transplants and currently has no approved therapeutic options beyond surgery or liver transplant, Ipsen said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
A dad who has needed two life-saving heart transplants says it was "the worst day" of his life to find out his son has the same condition.
From BBC ● Jun. 20, 2026
The pastor and his wife, transplants to Kentucky, have become their closest friends.
From "Class Matters" by The New York Times
The feat followed trial and error that initially saw him mollycoddle corals in stress-free environments, but those easily perished in the ocean once transplanted.
From Barron's ● Jul. 29, 2026
Based on a 1998 Vibe magazine article about street racing import cars in New York, the film was transplanted to Southern California.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 22, 2026
Those cells cannot grow hair in a lab, only when they are transplanted into skin and connected with underlying tissue.
From BBC ● Jun. 3, 2026
The painting was eventually transplanted to Jerusalem, where much of Kafka’s archives are also held.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 15, 2026
The Helianthus annuus are fine for now in their containers, but they will need to be transplanted.
From "Counting by 7s" by Holly Goldberg Sloan
In practice, he argues, many innovations grow out of existing ones, often by borrowing or transplanting concepts from one field to another.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 30, 2026
Both have since died but helped advance xenotransplantation - the transplanting of living cells, tissues or organs from one species to another.
From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2025
She was a master gardener, expert at transplanting Japanese maples, according to her neighbor, Patty Hall.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 15, 2025
Another team in China previously reported transplanting such a liver into a patient who had been declared brain-dead.
From Science Magazine ● Jun. 5, 2024
At age thirty-nine he’d already invented the first technique for suturing blood vessels together, and had used it to perform the first coronary bypass and develop methods for transplanting organs.
From "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot
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.
