GERMINATE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does germinate mean? 

• GERMINATE (verb)
  The verb GERMINATE has 3 senses:

1. produce buds, branches, or germinate

2. work out

3. cause to grow or sprout

  Familiarity information: GERMINATE used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• GERMINATE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they germinate    ... he / she / it germinates   
Past simple: germinated   
Past participle: germinated   
-ing form: germinating   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Produce buds, branches, or germinate

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

bourgeon; burgeon forth; germinate; pullulate; shoot; sprout; spud

Context example:

the potatoes sprouted

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

grow (increase in size by natural process)

Verb group:

germinate (cause to grow or sprout)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

germ (a small apparently simple structure (as a fertilized egg) from which new tissue can develop into a complete organism)

germination (the process whereby seeds or spores sprout and begin to grow)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Work out

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Synonyms:

develop; evolve; germinate

Context example:

We have developed a new theory of evolution

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

create by mental act; create mentally (create mentally and abstractly rather than with one's hands)

Verb group:

develop (make something new, such as a product or a mental or artistic creation)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

germ (anything that provides inspiration for later work)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Cause to grow or sprout

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Context example:

the plentiful rain germinated my plants

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

grow (cause to grow or develop)

Verb group:

bourgeon; burgeon forth; germinate; pullulate; shoot; sprout; spud (produce buds, branches, or germinate)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

germination (the origin of some development)

germination (the process whereby seeds or spores sprout and begin to grow)

 Context examples 

Once the idea had germinated, it mastered him, and the return voyage to San Francisco was like a dream.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Upon intravenous administration, Clostridium novyi-NT spores germinate exclusively in hypoxic tissue, such as avascular regions of tumors.

(Clostridium Novyi-NT Spores, NCI Thesaurus)

Pathogen zoospores germinate on the surface of liverworts and eventually colonise the liverwort tissues, but in some areas we saw an accumulation of a purple/red pigment in the liverwort tissues where the pathogen was rarely detected, said Dr Philip Carella, lead author of the study.

(Ancient defence strategy continues to protect plants from pathogens, University of Cambridge)

I went on with my day's business tranquilly; but ever and anon vague suggestions kept wandering across my brain of reasons why I should quit Thornfield; and I kept involuntarily framing advertisements and pondering conjectures about new situations: these thoughts I did not think to check; they might germinate and bear fruit if they could.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)