vegetate
Americanverb (used without object)
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to grow in, or as in, the manner of a plant.
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to be passive or unthinking; to do nothing.
to lie on the beach and vegetate.
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Pathology. to grow, or increase by growth, as an excrescence.
verb
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to grow like a plant; sprout
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to lead a life characterized by monotony, passivity, or mental inactivity
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pathol (of a wart, polyp, etc) to develop fleshy outgrowths
Etymology
Origin of vegetate
1595–1605; < Latin vegetātus (past participle of vegetāre to quicken, enliven), equivalent to veget ( us ) lively (originally past participle of vegēre to give vigor) + -ātus -ate 1
Explanation
When plants vegetate, they spread. When people vegetate, they relax. After a long day, if you want to vegetate or exert no effort in your body or mind, try sitting in front of the TV for hours. The word vegetate has opposite meanings depending on whether you're talking about plants or people. When vegetables vegetate, they proliferate or spread really quickly. When a person vegetates, he remains completely idle. A person in a vegetative state is not able to function, only to vegetate or remain completely inactive.
Vocabulary lists containing vegetate
Freak the Mighty
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Seedfolks
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "V"
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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.
He used to come home from a hard practice and vegetate on the couch, shattered by exhaustion.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 25, 2025
Made up of local efforts across 11 countries, it has reached just 16% of its overall goal to vegetate 150 million hectares.
From Science Magazine • Feb. 11, 2021
"To sit and vegetate is not my scene, I've got to keep myself active," he said.
From BBC • Nov. 8, 2012
Birds arrive and leave droppings that help vegetate the future dunes.
From New York Times • Dec. 30, 2011
“He didn’t influence me. You know what I might do? I might stay right here in this hospital bed and vegetate. I could vegetate very comfortably right here and let other people make the decisions.”
From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller
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.
