vegetate
verb (used without object)
to grow in, or as in, the manner of a plant.
were 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.
And without work he and his wife began to feel that they were vegetating.
From The New Yorker ● Jan. 15, 2017
And so, if Mr. Holtz had not exaggerated, and Jim Long was not mistaken, Blake Simpson and Dimber Joe, two notorious prison birds, were vegetating in Trafton in the character of detectives!
From Out of a Labyrinth by Lawrence L. Lynch
The Lieutenant in charge was the sole person detained as a prisoner-of-war, and he was added to six other British officers who were vegetating under our charge.
From My Reminiscences of the Anglo-Boer War by P. Van Breda
