weed
noun
a valueless plant growing wild, especially one that grows on cultivated ground to the exclusion or injury of the desired crop.
weed
1 American
[weed]
/ wid /
noun
-
a valueless plant growing wild, especially one that grows on cultivated ground to the exclusion or injury of the desired crop.
-
any undesirable or troublesome plant, especially one that grows profusely where it is not wanted.
The vacant lot was covered with weeds.
-
Informal. a cigarette or cigar.
-
Slang. a marijuana cigarette.
-
a thin, ungainly person or animal.
-
a wretched or useless animal, especially a horse unfit for racing or breeding purposes.
-
the weed,
verb (used with object)
-
weeds,
present (3rd person singular)
-
weeded,
past participle, past
-
weeding
present participle
-
to free from weeds or troublesome plants; root out weeds from.
to weed a garden.
-
to root out or remove (a weed or weeds), as from a garden (often followed byout ).
to weed out crab grass from a lawn.
-
to remove as being undesirable, inefficient, or superfluous (often followed byout ).
to weed out inexperienced players.
-
to rid (something) of undesirable or superfluous elements.
verb (used without object)
-
weeds,
present (3rd person singular)
-
weeded,
past participle, past
-
weeding
present participle
idioms
weed
2
American
[weed]
/ wid /
noun
-
weeds, mourning garments.
widow's weeds.
-
a mourning band of black crepe or cloth, as worn on a man's hat or coat sleeve.
-
Archaic. Often weeds
-
a garment.
clad in rustic weeds.
-
clothing.
-
Weed
3
American
[weed]
/ wid /
noun
weed
1
British
/ wiːd /
noun
-
any plant that grows wild and profusely, esp one that grows among cultivated plants, depriving them of space, food, etc
-
slang
-
tobacco
-
marijuana
-
-
informal a thin or unprepossessing person
-
an inferior horse, esp one showing signs of weakness of constitution
verb
weed
2
British
/ wiːd /
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
weedsimple
-
weedssimple
-
have weededperfect
-
has weededperfect
-
am weedingprogressive
-
are weedingprogressive
-
is weedingprogressive
-
have been weedingperfect progressive
-
has been weedingperfect progressive
Past
-
weededsimple
-
had weededperfect
-
was weedingprogressive
-
were weedingprogressive
-
had been weedingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of weed1
First recorded before 900; Middle English wed(e), weid, Old English wēod; cognate with Old Saxon wiod “weed,” Middle Dutch wiet “fern”
Origin of weed2
First recorded before 900; Middle English wed(e), Old English (ge)wǣde, wǣde “garment, clothing”; cognate with Old Saxon wād, gewādi, Old High German wāt, gewāti; cf. wadmal
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:
So don’t weed your garden and pull them out.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 29, 2026
Grass pollen is dominant at this time of year but increasingly weed pollen is becoming more prevalent.
From BBC ● Jul. 9, 2026
As in the Progressive Era, Americans want solutions to weed out government corruption.
From Slate ● Jul. 8, 2026
Of course, it’s a digital table that can weed out double ordering, assess investors, and ensure compliance with securities laws, among other things.
From Barron's ● Jun. 4, 2026
Other teams weren’t used to the thickness of the water, the feeling of lake weed tickling their legs, their toes slipping off the algae coating on our homemade turn boards, costing them precious seconds.
From "The Miseducation of Cameron Post" by emily m. danforth
“I believe Microsoft maybe has as much revenue in cybersecurity as the entire cybersecurity industry put together outside of it,” Weed said.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 2, 2026
“It’s kind of independent of all the other software, whether or not it’s the stuff you build yourself or buy from other vendors,” Bernstein analyst Peter Weed told MarketWatch.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 30, 2026
Or as Laurie Metcalf’s Weed makes clear in her hilarious monologue before the Central Park gig.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 29, 2026
The previous highest price at auction for a work by a female artist is Georgia O'Keeffe's Jimson Weed / White Flower No.1, which was sold at Sotheby's in 2014 for $44m.
From BBC ● Nov. 20, 2025
Yes, Your Majesty, I realize that I am the one who sent the incompetent Weed off into the wild.
From "The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge" by M.T. Anderson and Eugene Yelchin
It kills weeds by blocking an enzyme involved in photosynthesis.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 6, 2026
Over 500 personnel in protective gear have been posted on beaches to clean up the foul-smelling weeds.
From Barron's ● Jul. 30, 2026
Yurok revegetation crews culled invasive weeds and planted nearly half a million native seedlings across 50 species, including redwoods and black cottonwood.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
They can be found planting trees, pulling weeds, painting flagpoles and picking up cigarette butts.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 5, 2026
In the rocky terrain, she wore dirt and weeds.
From "The Wild Robot Escapes" by Peter Brown
That requirement has weeded out a lot of bad candidates for our investments.
From Slate ● Jun. 5, 2026
Anyone deemed untrainable or seen as dragging their feet risks being weeded out of hiring processes, marked down in performance reviews or laid off.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 8, 2025
The long biotech winter cleaned up the sector: Many biotech companies that went public too early during the COVID-inspired biotech frenzy got weeded out by the sector’s subsequent weakness, Renna says.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 3, 2025
The design process also weeded out anything that looked too similar to current antibiotics.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2025
She weeded the fields carefully with her hoe—chop, chop, chop.
From "A Girl Named Disaster" by Nancy Farmer
Fast-spreading pioneer and weeding ferns created extensive fern savannahs.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 22, 2026
The eight-week programme is being held at the group's field in Sion and involves planting hedges, weeding, watering and studying the concept of sustainability.
From BBC ● Apr. 3, 2026
Gripp officially retired from the nursery, but he was a frequent helper several times a week, weeding, dividing plants, answering customer questions and regaling them with his orchid-hunting stories.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 9, 2026
Parkanyi vets every submission, weeding out couples who appear rapacious for money, or those who demand a specific type of foreigner.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 8, 2025
But the ground was clean, no herbs; Jomo’s weeding was thorough and careful, and nothing that was not wanted was allowed to be.
From "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
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.
