vegetable

American  

[vej-tuh-buhl, vej-i-tuh-] / ˈvɛdʒ tə bəl, ˈvɛdʒ ɪ tə- /

noun

• vegetables
  plural

1. 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.

2. the edible part of such a plant, as the tuber of the potato.

3. any member of the plant kingdom; plant.

4. Informal. a person who is so severely impaired mentally or physically as to be largely incapable of conscious responses or activity.

5. a dull, spiritless, and uninteresting person.

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adjective

1. of, consisting of, or made from edible vegetables.

   a vegetable diet.

2. of, relating to, or characteristic of plants.

   the vegetable kingdom.

3. derived from plants.

   vegetable fiber; vegetable oils.

4. consisting of, comprising, or containing the substance or remains of plants.

   vegetable matter; a vegetable organism.

5. of the nature of or resembling a plant.

   the vegetable forms of Art Nouveau ornament.

6. inactive; inert; dull; uneventful.

   a vegetable existence.

vegetable British  

/ ˈvɛdʒtəbəl /

noun

1. any of various herbaceous plants having parts that are used as food, such as peas, beans, cabbage, potatoes, cauliflower, and onions

2. informal a person who has lost control of his mental faculties, limbs, etc, as from an injury, mental disease, etc

3. 1. a dull inactive person

   2. ( as modifier )

      a vegetable life

4. (modifier) consisting of or made from edible vegetables

   a vegetable diet

5. (modifier) of, relating to, characteristic of, derived from, or consisting of plants or plant material

   vegetable oils

6. rare any member of the plant kingdom

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vegetable Scientific  

/ vĕj′tə-bəl /

1. 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.

2. An edible part of one of these plants.

3. See Note at fruit

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonvegetable
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• vegetables
  plural

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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

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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

See Examples For:

vegetable vegetables

But in the summer the village with its low houses surrounded by vegetable gardens and fruit trees becomes a tourist hotspot thanks to its long sandy beaches.

From Barron's ● Oct. 14, 2026

For a lot of vegetable, bean and chowder-style soups, I blend about half of what’s in the pot.That gives you body without turning the whole thing into purée.

From Salon ● Sep. 28, 2026

A large root vegetable related to beetroot, sugar beet and chard.

From BBC ● Sep. 18, 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

Chandra was busy in the courtyard carrying water from the well to the small vegetable garden, where squashes and melons were creeping about, looking for room to grow.

From "Homeless Bird" by Gloria Whelan

"So I think the costs of a healthy diet, which means an increased cost on legumes, on vegetables, on meat, is just having a big impact on what people can afford to consume."

From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026

Previous clinical studies have shown that eating vegetables, protein, or fat before carbohydrates can help limit these increases.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 11, 2026

The remaining residents live off vegetables they grow in their gardens, soups of boiled weeds and cans of food they scavenge from bombed-out, abandoned homes around this city.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 11, 2026

The sweetness of the vegetables became more nuanced instead of landing like a sledgehammer.

From Salon ● Oct. 5, 2026

She exclaims over Lily’s art project and starts chopping vegetables for dinner.

From "South of Somewhere" by Kalena Miller

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Related Words

• herb
• legume
• produce
• salad

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