Meaning of plant in English

something illegal or stolen that has been put secretly in a person's clothing or among the things that belong to them to make them seem guilty of a crime:

He insisted the money was a plant.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Plotting & trapping

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plant

verb

/plɑːnt/ us

/plænt/

plant verb (LIVING THING)

B1 [ T ]

to put a plant into the ground or into a container of soil so that it will grow:

We planted trees and bushes in our new garden.

Hyacinth bulbs planted in pots now will flower early in the spring.

[ T ]

If you plant a particular area, you put plants into the ground there:

The plot was surrounded by a stone wall and planted with flowering trees.

a densely planted garden (= one in which the plants are close together)

More examplesFewer examples

She planted some roses and other flowering shrubs.
Some fields are planted with crops for several years, and then returned to pasture for the cattle.
Rake over the soil before planting the seeds.
Before deciding what to plant, think about how much sun comes into that area of the garden.
I think I'll try planting some vegetables this year.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Gardening - general words

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plant verb (PUT)

[ T + adv/prep ]

to put something firmly and strongly in a particular place:

My brother planted himself on the sofa in front of the television.

He planted a kiss on her forehead/a blow on his opponent's jaw.

C2 [ T usually + adv/prep ]

to cause an idea or story to exist:

That incident planted doubts about him in my mind.

Who planted these rumours?

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Placing and positioning an object

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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Causing things to happen

plant verb (PUT SECRETLY)

[ T usually + adv/prep ] informal

to put something or someone in a position secretly, especially in order to deceive someone:

She insisted that the drugs had been planted on her without her knowledge.

B2 [ T usually + adv/prep ] informal

to put a bomb somewhere so that it will explode there:

The bomb was planted in the station waiting room.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Placing and positioning an object

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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Plotting & trapping

Related word

planting

Phrasal verb

plant something out

(Definition of plant from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

plant | American Dictionary

plant

noun

/plænt/

plant noun (LIVING THING)

Add to word list Add to word list

[ C ]

a living thing that usually produces seeds and typically has a stem, leaves, roots, and sometimes flowers:

We brought a house plant as a gift when we spent the weekend with our friend Sylvia.

plant noun (GROUP)

[ U ] biology

one of five kingdoms (= groups) into which living things are divided, the members of which have many cells, are unable to control their own movement, and get their energy from the light of the sun

plant noun (FACTORY)

[ C ] us

/plænt/

a factory and the machinery in it used to produce or process something:

a manufacturing plant

plant

verb

/plænt/

plant verb (PUT)

[ T always + adv/prep ]

to put something firmly in a particular place:

He planted a kiss on her forehead.

[ T always + adv/prep ]

To plant an idea or story is to cause it to exist:

Defense lawyers try to plant doubts in the minds of the jurors about what actually happened.

plant verb (PUT SECRETLY)

[ T ]

to put something or someone in a position secretly, esp. in order to deceive:

She insisted that the real thief had planted the evidence in her car.

plant verb (LIVING THING)

[ T ]

to put a seed or plant into the ground or into a container of earth so that it will grow:

We’ve planted some trees along the back of our property.

(Definition of plant from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

plant | Business English

plant

noun

PRODUCTION

/plɑːnt/ us

/plænt/

Add to word list Add to word list

[ C ]

a factory or other place where goods are manufactured or resources such as energy are produced:

The city is considering shutting down a major power plant for environmental reasons.

A series of recent plant closures has left hundreds of people out of work.

industrial/manufacturing/processing plant

assembly/chemical/bottling plant

[ U ]

large pieces of equipment and machinery that are used in manufacturing processes:

plant and equipment/machinery Improved market conditions worldwide are driving investments in new plant and equipment.

Examples of plant

plant

The mineral nutrition of wild plants revisited: a re-evaluation of processes and patterns.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Thus, the door of a burning furnace stood in for the steel plant, and a couple of drainpipes represented a construction site.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Since the palms were planted in equilateral triangles, canopy closure could be calculated from the planting density and approximate crown radius.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Between 1996 and 1998, 229 plants died and 629 stems recruited into the 30 cm size class.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

It seems that these enzymes played integral roles in the protection of plants from oxidative stress.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The chapter on plant responses to herbicides reminds the reader that stresses can be anthropogenic.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

However, given its convenience and the accessibility to surrounding plants, it may be an effective method for pre-planting applications.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Then it is straightforward to show that land tenure institutions affect tree planting through their effects on land rights.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

In the present study, tunnel length in maize tended to increase with age of the plant, while larval weight per cm tunnel produced decreased.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

These modest changes should be sufficient for the book to remain valuable for training a new generation of students to become professional plant breeders.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The common assumption that if there is national deforestation, then there is a felt need to plant trees, needs to be reexamined.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

To enforce incentives to plant trees, afforestation responsibility was decentralized to local leaders in 1984.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Each table entry is the trigger price at which the decision-maker would find it advantageous to plant the corresponding share of land to mango trees.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

If households will plant, at what level of fuelwood scarcity will they decide that planting trees for fuel is a worthwhile investment?

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The rise of the seed plants and first trees are also covered.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

Collocations with plant

plant

These are words often used in combination with plant.

Click on a collocation to see more examples of it.

alien plant

Reproductive characteristics are crucial for the invasive success of any alien plant.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

aquatic plant

Ranking the effects of site exposure, plant growth form, water depth and transparency on aquatic plant biomasses.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

bottling plant

Sterile and cleaned steel coupons were placed on selected sites at the bottling plant.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

See all collocations with plant

What is the pronunciation of plant?

Translations of plant

in Chinese (Traditional)

生物體, 植物, 建築物／機器…

Meaning of plant in English

plant noun (LIVING THING)

plant noun (BUILDING/MACHINES)

plant noun (PUT SECRETLY)

plant verb (LIVING THING)

plant verb (PUT)

plant verb (PUT SECRETLY)

Related word

Phrasal verb

plant | American Dictionary

plant noun (LIVING THING)

plant noun (GROUP)

plant noun (FACTORY)

plant verb (PUT)

plant verb (PUT SECRETLY)

plant verb (LIVING THING)

plant | Business English

See also

Examples of plant

Collocations with plant

plant

Translations of plant

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