germinate
/ˈd͡ʒɜː(ɹ)mɪneɪt/
germinate verb: of a seed, to begin to grow, to sprout roots and leaves.
Verb
germinate (third-person singular simple present germinates, present participle germinating, simple past and past participle germinated)
- Of a seed, to begin to grow, to sprout roots and leaves.
- the Chalcites, which hath a Spirit that will put forth and germinate1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “(please specify the page, or |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted...
- It would suffice to keep up the full number of a tree, which lived on an average for a thousand years, if a single seed were produced once in a thousand years, supposing that this seed were never destroyed, and could be ensured to germinate in a fitting place. So that in all cases, the average...1859, Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species
- To cause to grow; to produce.
- 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.1913, Robert Barr, chapter 5, in Lord Stranleigh Abroad
germinate meaning in Marathi, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam
germinate in Marathi
- to germinate, sprout
- रुजणे ruj̈ṇe
germinate in Urdu
- to germinate
- اپج پانا upaj pānā
germinate in Bengali
- germinate, sprout
- অঙ্কুরিত হওয়া ôṅkuritô hôẇa
germinate in Malayalam
- മുളയ്ക്കുക, തളിർക്കുക, ഉരുത്തിരിയുക, വികസിക്കുക
More languagesFewer languages
- germinate in Kannada
- ಚಿಗುರು, ಕುಡಿಯೊಡೆ, ಅಂಕುರಿಸು, ಮೊಳಕೆಯಾಗು
- germinate in Punjabi
- ਉੱਗਣਾ uggaṇā, ਪੁੰਗਰਨਾ puṅgranā
- germinate in Sanskrit
- आगच्छति āgacchati
- germinate in Arabic
- نَمَا namā
Examples of germinate in a sentence
- If you oversoak lentils, they may begin to germinate.
- Most pteridophytes are homosporous, producing one type of spore that germinates to produce a potentially bisexual gametophyte.
- In many homosporous plants, the spore germinates and grows into a gametophyte completely outside the spore wall.
Synonyms of germinate
Forms of germinate
| third-person singular present | germinates |
|---|---|
| present participle | germinating |
| past participle | germinated |
| past | germinated |
Origin of germinate
From oblique stem of Latin germen, germinis (“shoot, sprout, bud”) + -ate, from germinātus (“sprouted, budded, grown”), past participle of germinō (“to sprout, bud, grow”), from germen, germinis (“shoot, sprout, bud”).
Words formed from germinate
Questions about germinate
- What does germinate mean?
- Germinate means of a seed, to begin to grow, to sprout roots and leaves.
- What is germinate in Marathi?
- Germinate in Marathi is रुजणे (ruj̈ṇe). See Germinate meaning in Marathi.
- What part of speech is germinate?
- Germinate is a verb.
- How do you pronounce germinate?
- Germinate is pronounced /ˈd͡ʒɜː(ɹ)mɪneɪt/.
- What is the past tense of germinate?
- The past tense of germinate is germinated.
Words near germinate in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: germinate (page history and authors); रुजणे (Marathi) (page history and authors); اپج پانا (Urdu) (page history and authors); অঙ্কুরিত হওয়া (Bengali) (page history and authors); germinate (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); germinate (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਉੱਗਣਾ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); आगच्छति (Sanskrit) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “germinate.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/germinate. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.