verb ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Verb

1. 1
   To make (the soil) more fertile by adding nutrients to it.
2. 2
   introduce semen into (a female) wordnet
3. 3
   To make more creative or intellectually productive. figuratively

   "to fertilize one's imagination"

4. 4
   provide with fertilizers or add nutrients to wordnet
5. 5
   To cause to produce offspring through insemination; to inseminate.

Show 1 more definition

6. 6
   make fertile or productive wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

inseminatemanurebacksetcompostcross-fertilizecross-pollen

Example

More examples

"The tears of the past fertilize the future."

Etymology

From French fertiliser; equivalent to fertile + -ize.

Related phrases

cross-fertilize

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.