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:
This is a sport that named its bowl games for refrigerators, mufflers and weed eaters, and concludes a current one with the bleak, ritual toasting of an anthropomorphic Pop Tart.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026
So don’t weed your garden and pull them out.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 29, 2026
There is also the work of the clinical navigators - clinicians reviewing notes taken by the call handler to weed out those in need of a rapid response.
From BBC ● Jul. 15, 2026
As in the Progressive Era, Americans want solutions to weed out government corruption.
From Slate ● Jul. 8, 2026
He bends down to pick up a stray weed in the middle of the grass.
From "Keeping Pace" by Laurie Morrison
“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
Bernstein’s Peter Weed wrote in a note last week that ServiceNow’s stock had unfairly sold off, and that an acquisition would be strategically aligned with ServiceNow’s architecture.
From MarketWatch ● Dec. 23, 2025
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
Universal and Mattel have tapped Akiva Goldsman — an Oscar-winning screenwriter known for “A Beautiful Mind” and “Cinderella Man” — to produce the picture under his banner, Weed Road.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 5, 2024
Riker and Weed were shipping those orphans out of New York tonight.
From "Dactyl Hill Squad" by Daniel José Older
Flowering plants in pollinator gardens, agricultural fields, and residential landscapes often grow alongside weeds that are controlled with herbicides.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 6, 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
One of the fields used to produce rice for sushi has not been flooded and the weeds are the biggest beneficiaries.
From Barron's ● Jul. 4, 2026
Mass torts spread like weeds and may be even harder to stop.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 25, 2026
Patches of weeds and bare dirt were spreading across the fields.
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
Eventually, AI holdouts will either get onboard or get weeded out.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 28, 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
Lord Sugar has said wannabe influencers are weeded out during the selection process for The Apprentice, as his team can "smell them a mile off".
From BBC ● Jan. 31, 2024
They weeded out the gold certificates and decided to avoid handing a clerk more than one fifty-dollar bill at a time.
From Nazi Saboteurs by Samantha Seiple
DraftKings and FanDuel, which dominate the sportsbook industry, have faced backlash for weeding out players who win too often and catering heavily to their biggest losers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026
Fast-spreading pioneer and weeding ferns created extensive fern savannahs.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 22, 2026
"While historic indoor markets present unique operational challenges, our maintenance teams are actively addressing immediate issues, including external weeding, deep cleaning, and structural upkeep," it continued.
From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2026
Habiba, who spoke to AFP while busy weeding, is proud to have been farming in Nuristan province for decades.
From Barron's ● Jul. 1, 2026
But it took a lot of weeding for me to get the picture of Holt Nickerson riding off in his long Johns out of my mind.
From "The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs" by Betty G. Birney
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.
