Germinate

//ˈd͡ʒɜː(ɹ)mɪneɪt// verb

verb ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    Of a seed, to begin to grow, to sprout roots and leaves. intransitive

    "the Chalcites, which hath a Spirit that will put forth and germinate"

  2. 2
    produce buds, branches, or germinate wordnet
  3. 3
    To cause to grow; to produce. transitive

    "These were business hours, and a feeling of loneliness crept over him, perhaps germinated by his sight of the illustrated papers, and accentuated by an attempted perusal of them."

  4. 4
    cause to grow or sprout wordnet
  5. 5
    work out wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
shootackerspyreblossombourgeonbrewbud

Example

More examples

"The seed is beginning to germinate."

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin germinātus, perfect passive participle of germinō (“to sprout”), see -ate (verb-forming suffix).

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