vegetable
Americannoun
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vegetables
plural
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any plant whose fruit, seeds, roots, tubers, bulbs, stems, leaves, or flower parts are used as food, as the tomato, bean, beet, potato, onion, asparagus, spinach, or cauliflower.
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the edible part of such a plant, as the tuber of the potato.
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any member of the plant kingdom; plant.
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Informal. a person who is so severely impaired mentally or physically as to be largely incapable of conscious responses or activity.
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a dull, spiritless, and uninteresting person.
adjective
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of, consisting of, or made from edible vegetables.
a vegetable diet.
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of, relating to, or characteristic of plants.
the vegetable kingdom.
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derived from plants.
vegetable fiber; vegetable oils.
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consisting of, comprising, or containing the substance or remains of plants.
vegetable matter; a vegetable organism.
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of the nature of or resembling a plant.
the vegetable forms of Art Nouveau ornament.
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inactive; inert; dull; uneventful.
a vegetable existence.
noun
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any of various herbaceous plants having parts that are used as food, such as peas, beans, cabbage, potatoes, cauliflower, and onions
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informal a person who has lost control of his mental faculties, limbs, etc, as from an injury, mental disease, etc
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a dull inactive person
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( as modifier )
a vegetable life
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(modifier) consisting of or made from edible vegetables
a vegetable diet
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(modifier) of, relating to, characteristic of, derived from, or consisting of plants or plant material
vegetable oils
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rare any member of the plant kingdom
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A plant that is cultivated for an edible part, such as the leaf of spinach, the root of the carrot, or the stem of celery.
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An edible part of one of these plants.
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See Note at fruit
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of vegetable
1350–1400; Middle English (adjective) < Late Latin vegetābilis “able to live and grow,” equivalent to vegetā(re) “to quicken” ( see vegetate) + -bilis -ble
Explanation
A vegetable is an edible part of a plant, like a stalk of broccoli, a carrot, or a spinach leaf. With a few exceptions (think French fries), vegetables are just about the healthiest food you can eat. Culinary purists will tell you that some things you think of as vegetables, like tomatoes and zucchinis, aren't vegetables at all — they're fruits, because they have seeds. In general, though, it's fine to refer to the parts of plants used for food as vegetables. The word's original meaning was simply "any plant," and soon it came to mean "plant cultivated for food." Since 1921, it's also been slang for "person leading a monotonous, inactive life."
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:
Ukraine, which is a major exporter of corn, wheat, colza, sunflower seeds and vegetable oil, submitted its EU membership bid days after Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022.
From Barron's ● Oct. 7, 2026
Once I noticed this pattern, I realized it’s how I make most of my favorite soups: tomato soup, corn chowders, vegetable soups, bean soups and even chicken soup.
From Salon ● Sep. 28, 2026
Disney's coverage also featured a vegetable platter being served and a rotating floor.
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026
My go-to is the farmer’s hash — it’s the local seasonal vegetable bowl with sweet potatoes and I get the eggs over hard.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026
She staggers a little, and a bowl of hot vegetable soup topples off her tray and lands on my sneakers.
From "Linked" by Gordon Korman
They would also allow Scotland to produce more Mediterranean vegetables like tomatoes, cucumbers, aubergines, and even melons, according to Pete Ritchie from campaign organisation Nourish Scotland.
From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2026
Md Emon Khan, 28, left his garment-factory job in Dhaka and returned to Rooppur, where he now sells vegetables and fruit to workers.
From Barron's ● Oct. 7, 2026
Chipotle recorded a “signature sound” that will play during some ads using only instruments made with fresh vegetables.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026
The sweetness of the vegetables became more nuanced instead of landing like a sledgehammer.
From Salon ● Oct. 5, 2026
Flushed and sweating, they were also resigned to the fact that there was no escaping an odor of meat and vegetables, which was wafting through the windows from the market stalls outside.
From "Death on the River of Doubt" by Samantha Seiple
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.
