vegetable

[ vej-tuh-buhl, vej-i-tuh- ]
See synonyms for: vegetablevegetables on Thesaurus.com

noun
  1. any plant whose fruit, seeds, roots, tubers, bulbs, stems, leaves, or flower parts are used as food, as the tomato, bean, beet, potato, onion, asparagus, spinach, or cauliflower.

  2. the edible part of such a plant, as the tuber of the potato.

  1. any member of the plant kingdom; plant.

  2. Informal. a person who is so severely impaired mentally or physically as to be largely incapable of conscious responses or activity.

  3. a dull, spiritless, and uninteresting person.

adjective
  1. of, consisting of, or made from edible vegetables: a vegetable diet.

  2. of, relating to, or characteristic of plants:the vegetable kingdom.

  1. derived from plants: vegetable fiber; vegetable oils.

  2. consisting of, comprising, or containing the substance or remains of plants: vegetable matter; a vegetable organism.

  3. of the nature of or resembling a plant: the vegetable forms of Art Nouveau ornament.

  4. inactive; inert; dull; uneventful: a vegetable existence.

Origin of vegetable

1
1350–1400; Middle English (adjective) <Late Latin vegetābilis “able to live and grow,” equivalent to vegetā(re) “to quicken” (see vegetate) + -bilis -ble

Other words from vegetable

  • non·veg·e·ta·ble, noun, adjective

Words Nearby vegetable

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use vegetable in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for vegetable

vegetable

/ (ˈvɛdʒtəbəl) /


noun
  1. any of various herbaceous plants having parts that are used as food, such as peas, beans, cabbage, potatoes, cauliflower, and onions

  2. informal a person who has lost control of his mental faculties, limbs, etc, as from an injury, mental disease, etc

    • a dull inactive person

    • (as modifier): a vegetable life

  1. (modifier) consisting of or made from edible vegetables: a vegetable diet

  2. (modifier) of, relating to, characteristic of, derived from, or consisting of plants or plant material: vegetable oils

  3. rare any member of the plant kingdom

Origin of vegetable

1
c14 (adj): from Late Latin vegetābilis animating, from vegetāre to enliven, from Latin vegēre to excite

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for vegetable

vegetable

[ vĕjtə-bəl ]


  1. A plant that is cultivated for an edible part, such as the leaf of spinach, the root of the carrot, or the stem of celery.

  2. An edible part of one of these plants. See Note at fruit.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.