plants
noun · verb
Form of plant , plural of plant.
Simple meaning
An organism that is not an animal.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
plantsIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈplænts
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
plural of plant
An organism that is not an animal, especially an organism capable of photosynthesis. Typically a small or herbaceous organism of this kind, rather than a tree.
plural of plant
A living organism lacking the power of locomotion
plural of plantproscribed as biologically inaccurate
Any creature that grows on soil or similar surfaces, including plants and fungi.
plural of plant
An organism of the kingdom Plantae. Now specifically, a living organism of the Embryophyta (land plants) or of the Chlorophyta (green algae), a eukaryote that includes double-membraned chloroplasts in its cells containing chlorophyll a and b, or any organism closely related to such an organism.
verb
third-person singular of plant
To place (an object, or sometimes a person), often with the implication of intending deceit.
third-person singular of plant
To place or set something firmly or with conviction.
third-person singular of plant
Place something or someone in a certain position in order to secretly observe or deceive
third-person singular of plant
To furnish or supply with plants.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: An organism that is not an animal, especially an organism capable of photosynthesis. Typically a small or herbaceous organism of this kind, rather than a tree.
Used this way, plants is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It stays understated rather than dramatic. This is a scientific use: it names something precisely within a field of study, so it appears in research and teaching more than in conversation.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Mild
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Clinical and technical
- Usage feel
- Technical and specialized
Where it naturally appears
- Science
- Academic writing
- Technical/specialist writing
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use plants
- “The garden had a couple of trees, and a cluster of colourful plants around the border.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
Buildings for carrying on industrial labor.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
The owner or manager of a plantation.
An estate where cash crops are grown on a large scale (especially in tropical areas).
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
Related to the leafhoppers and spittlebugs but rarely damages cultivated plants.
The taxonomic kingdom comprising all living or extinct plants.
Any of several small insects especially aphids that feed by sucking the juices from plants.
Material derived from plants.
The order of plants.
A biologist specializing in the study of plants.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.