What does "plant" mean?
An organism that is not an animal, especially an organism capable of photosynthesis. Typically a small or herbaceous organism of this kind, rather than a tree.
Plant
/plænt/ name, noun, verb, slang
name, noun, verb, slang ·Very common ·Middle school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: An organism that is not an animal, especially an organism capable of photosynthesis. Typically a small or herbaceous organism of this kind, rather than a tree.
- Grammar: plant is listed as name, noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: accouterments, adulterate, agent provocateur, amphibian.
- Useful contrasts: fallow land management, fellest, italian fungo.
- Usage evidence: The foreign executives visited the manufacturing plant.
How to use "plant"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "plant" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "plant" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "plant" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "plant" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "plant" is acting as name, noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "accouterments" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "plant", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 An organism that is not an animal, especially an organism capable of photosynthesis. Typically a small or herbaceous organism of this kind, rather than a tree.
"The garden had a couple of trees, and a cluster of colourful plants around the border."
- 2 (botany) a living organism lacking the power of locomotion wordnet
- 3 An organism of the kingdom Plantae. Now specifically, a living organism of the Embryophyta (land plants) or of the Chlorophyta (green algae), a eukaryote that includes double-membraned chloroplasts in its cells containing chlorophyll a and b, or any organism closely related to such an organism.
- 4 buildings for carrying on industrial labor wordnet
- 5 Now specifically, a multicellular eukaryote that includes chloroplasts in its cells, which have a cell wall.
Show 17 more definitions
- 6 something planted secretly for discovery by another wordnet
- 7 Any creature that grows on soil or similar surfaces, including plants and fungi. proscribed
"Some plants, such as mushrooms found in the wild, are difficult to identify. Some plants are poisonous, and an inexperienced individual may make mistakes in identification of wild plants, with tragic results."
- 8 an actor situated in the audience whose acting is rehearsed but seems spontaneous to the audience wordnet
- 9 A factory or other industrial or institutional building or facility. countable
"The company has production plants in three countries."
- 10 Machinery and other supplies and equipment, such as the kind used in heavy industry, light industry, earthmoving, or construction. uncountable
"Near-synonym: capital equipment"
- 11 An object placed surreptitiously in order to cause suspicion to fall upon a person.
"That gun’s not mine! It’s a plant! I’ve never seen it before!"
- 12 A stash or cache of hidden goods. obsolete, slang
- 13 Anyone assigned to behave as a member of the public during a covert operation (as in a police investigation).
- 14 A person, placed amongst an audience, whose role is to cause confusion, laughter etc.
- 15 A play in which the cue ball knocks one (usually red) ball onto another, in order to pot the second; a set.
"O’Sullivan risked a plant that went badly astray, splitting the reds."
- 16 A young tree; a sapling; hence, a stick or staff. obsolete
"Take, Shepherd, take a Plant of ſtubborn Oak; / And labour him with many a ſturdy ſtroke: / Or with hard Stones, demoliſh from afar / His haughty Creſt, the feat of all the War."
- 17 The sole of the foot. obsolete
"Knotty legs, and plants of clay, / Seek for eaſe, or love delay."
- 18 A plan; a swindle; a trick. dated, slang
"It wasn’t a bad plant that of mine, on Fikey, the man accused of forging the Sou’ Westeru Railway debentures—it was only t’ other day—because the reason why? I’ll tell you."
- 19 An oyster which has been bedded, in distinction from one of natural growth.
- 20 A young oyster suitable for transplanting. US, dialectal
- 21 A system, such as a motor, whose behaviour is being regulated or controlled by a control system.
- 22 A position in the street to sell from; a pitch. UK, obsolete, slang
Verb
- 1 To place (a seed or plant) in soil or other substrate in order that it may live and grow. ambitransitive
- 2 put firmly in the mind wordnet
- 3 To furnish or supply with plants. transitive
"to plant a garden, an orchard, or a forest"
- 4 place something or someone in a certain position in order to secretly observe or deceive wordnet
- 5 To place (an object, or sometimes a person), often with the implication of intending deceit. transitive
"That gun’s not mine! It was planted there by the real murderer!"
Show 10 more definitions
- 6 fix or set securely or deeply wordnet
- 7 To place or set something firmly or with conviction. transitive
"to plant cannon against a fort; to plant a flag; to plant one’s feet on solid ground"
- 8 put or set (seeds, seedlings, or plants) into the ground wordnet
- 9 To place in the ground. transitive
"God moves in a myſterious way, / His wonders to perform; / He plants his footſteps in the ſea, / And rides upon the ſtorm."
- 10 set up or lay the groundwork for wordnet
- 11 To engender; to generate; to set the germ of. transitive
"It engenders choler, planteth anger."
- 12 place into a river wordnet
- 13 To furnish with a fixed and organized population; to settle; to establish. transitive
"to plant a colony"
- 14 To introduce and establish the principles or seeds of. transitive
"to plant Christianity among the heathen"
- 15 To set up; to install; to instate. transitive
"We will plant some other in the throne."
Proper Noun
- 1 A surname:; A surname from English. countable, uncountable
- 2 A surname:; A surname from French. countable, uncountable
- 3 A surname:; A surname, variant of Plante. countable, uncountable
- 4 An unincorporated community in Van Buren County, Arkansas, United States. countable, uncountable
Synonyms
All synonymsAntonyms
Example
"The foreign executives visited the manufacturing plant."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "plant"?
Common synonyms include: accouterments, adulterate, agent provocateur, amphibian, anchor, angiosperm.
How do you use "plant" in a sentence?
The foreign executives visited the manufacturing plant.
How do you pronounce "plant"?
Pronounced /plænt/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle English plante, from Old English plante (“young tree or shrub, herb newly planted”), from Proto-West Germanic *plantu, from Latin planta (“sprout, shoot, cutting”). Broader sense of "any vegetable life, vegetation generally" is from Old French plante. Doublet of clan (borrowed through Celtic languages) and planta (directly from Latin). The verb is from Middle English planten, from Old English plantian (“to plant”), from Latin plantāre, later influenced by Old French planter. Compare also Dutch planten (“to plant”), German pflanzen (“to plant”), Swedish plantera (“to plant”), Icelandic planta (“to plant”). The factory and machinery senses comes from the Latin sense of "any vegetable production that serves to propagate the species," which refers to something that produces.
Etymology 2
English and French surname, from the noun plant. Also compare Plantier.