Library / English Dictionary

FERTILIZE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Introduce semen into (a female)

Synonyms:

fecundate; fertilise; fertilize; inseminate

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Hypernyms (to "fertilize" is one way to...):

alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "fertilize"):

stratify (render fertile and preserve by placing between layers of earth or sand)

bang up; impregnate; knock up; prang up (make pregnant)

impregnate (fertilize and cause to grow)

cross-fertilise; cross-fertilize (cause to undergo cross-fertilization)

cross-pollinate; pollenate; pollinate (fertilize by transfering pollen)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

fertilization (creation by the physical union of male and female gametes; of sperm and ova in an animal or pollen and ovule in a plant)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Provide with fertilizers or add nutrients to

Example:

We should fertilize soil if we want to grow healthy plants

Synonyms:

feed; fertilise; fertilize

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "fertilize" is one way to...):

enrich (make better or improve in quality)

Domain category:

agriculture; farming; husbandry (the practice of cultivating the land or raising stock)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "fertilize"):

nitrify (treat (soil) with nitrates)

dung (fertilize or dress with dung)

topdress (scatter manure or fertilizer over (land))

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sentence example:

They fertilize the trees

Derivation:

fertilization (making fertile as by applying fertilizer or manure)

fertilizer (any substance such as manure or a mixture of nitrates used to make soil more fertile)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Make fertile or productive

Example:

The course fertilized her imagination

Synonyms:

fecundate; fertilise; fertilize

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "fertilize" is one way to...):

alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

fertilizer (any substance such as manure or a mixture of nitrates used to make soil more fertile)

Credits

 Context examples: 

This is needed to prepare the uterine lining for implantation by the fertilized egg.

(Corpus Luteum, NCI Thesaurus)

The process of shape formation: the processes that are responsible for producing the complex shapes of adults from the simple ball of cells that derives from division of the fertilized egg.

(Morphogenesis, NCI Thesaurus)

These lakes are being fertilized by thawing yedoma permafrost.

(Certain Arctic lakes store more greenhouse gases than they release, NSF)

If an egg is fertilized by a sperm, a pregnancy can result.

(Ovarian Disorders, NIH)

The artificial activation of an egg in the absence of a sperm; the egg begins to divide as if it has been fertilized.

(Parthenogenesis, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

After a plant has been fertilized, there is another problem: runoff.

(Bacteria Used to Create Fertilizer Out of Thin Air, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Adhesions can sometimes cause infertility in women by preventing fertilized eggs from reaching the uterus.

(Adhesions, NIH: National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases)

A gestation with more than one fertilized egg implanted as a viable fetus in the uterus.

(Multiple Pregnancy, NCI Thesaurus)

The undifferentiated cells formed by cleavage of the fertilized ovum.

(Blastomere, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

A condition in which a fertilized egg grows outside of the uterus, usually in one of the fallopian tubes.

(Ectopic Pregnancy, NCI Dictionary)