vegetate
verb (used without object)
to grow in, or as in, the manner of a plant.
was vegetating
-
past progressiveof vegetate.past progressive
Used to describe an ongoing action or continuous state that was happening at a specific time in the past.
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 was vegetating in garrison at Metz when the armies of Marshal de Belle-Isle, the gallant and thrice-unfortunate, streamed eastward into Germany and carried our philosopher with them.
From Three French Moralists and The Gallantry of France by Edmund Gosse
From the outset he shone in the first rank, while his future rival, Robespierre, was vegetating almost in the lowest.
From The Psychology of Revolution by Gustave Le Bon
Now all this time that the vagabond son of the charcoal-burner was growing up in merriment and mischief, the moody scion of His Sacred Majesty the Emperor was vegetating like a weed in moody melancholy.
From The Legend of the Glorious Adventures of Tyl Ulenspiegel in the land of Flanders and elsewhere by Charles de Coster
In fact, I was vegetating just then, thinking of nothing in particular.
From The Arena Volume 4, No. 20, July, 1891 by B. O. (Benjamin Orange) Flower
It was here Sir John Hamblyn was "vegetating," as he told his friends—practising the strictest economy, and making a desperate and praiseworthy effort to recover somewhat his lost financial position.
From The Squire's Daughter by Silas K(itto) Hocking
