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,
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.
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.
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
First recorded before 900; Middle English wed(e), weid, Old English wēod; cognate with Old Saxon wiod “weed,” Middle Dutch wiet “fern”
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
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
As in the Progressive Era, Americans want solutions to weed out government corruption.
From Slate ● Jul. 8, 2026
The county’s legal team fought to keep the deal on track, arguing that enhanced fraud prevention would be enough to weed out false claims.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 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
“Each side tries to weed out the other. The distinction we were seeing more of was either general trust or general skepticism.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 20, 2026
Claiborne Paul Ellis, known to everyone as C.P., lived just a weed patch north of the railroad tracks separating white Durham from black.
From "The Best of Enemies" by Osha Gray Davidson
Or as Laurie Metcalf’s Weed makes clear in her hilarious monologue before the Central Park gig.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 29, 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
Weed pollen will also start to play a part from June until September.
From BBC ● May 30, 2025
Now classified as a noxious weed in Washington, “It is incredibly healthy and loaded with resveratrol,” an antioxidant, according to the Washington Noxious Weed Control Board.
From Seattle Times ● May 17, 2024
Our agent got close to the lightning thing and then some monster startled him and the old Weed shriveled.
From "The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge" by M.T. Anderson and Eugene Yelchin
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
Bill Frauenhofer, the veteran semiconductor industry investment banker who serves as the administration’s chips czar, is even more in the weeds of Intel’s business.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 11, 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
If the bees and the weeds were OK, I could be OK too.
From Salon ● Jun. 15, 2026
Prior to Handsome and Duane’s arrival, Twitch had made her way across the river to place herself among a thicket of weeds.
From "The Very, Very Far North" by Dan Bar-el
He weeded out clerical competition and consolidated his rule over a nation of 90 million people as it grew into a regional military and political powerhouse.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 8, 2026
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
It seems as though all of these people ultimately had second thoughts and decided against taking part, or were weeded out by voir dire.
From Slate ● Apr. 18, 2024
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
He confirmed what I had suspected, that these meerkats had gone for so many generations without predators that any notion of flight distance, of flight, of plain fear, had been genetically weeded out of them.
From "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel
Fast-spreading pioneer and weeding ferns created extensive fern savannahs.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 22, 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
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
The housekeeper knelt in the mud beside a bush blossoming with large blue and white roses, absolutely soaked, apparently weeding.
From "Fablehaven" by Brandon Mull
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.
