vegetative Hear it!

vegetative Definition

veg·eta·tive (vej′ə tāt′iv)

adjective

    1. of vegetation, or plants
    2. of or concerned with vegetation, or plant growth
  2. growing, or capable of growing, as plants
  3. designating or of those functions or parts of plants concerned with growth and nutrition as distinguished from reproduction
  4. capable of causing growth in plants; fertile vegetative material
  5. vegetational
  6. involuntary or passive like the growth of plants; showing little mental activity a vegetative existence
  7. Zool. of or pertaining to reproduction by budding or other asexual method

Etymology: ME < ML vegetativus < L vegetatus: see vegetate

Also vegetive veg′·etive (-tiv)

Related Forms:

vegetative Usage Examples

Modifies a noun

  • propagation: Has there been subsequent vegetative propagation of material derived from seed?
  • mycelium: Much of their life cycle is spent as vegetative mycelium, exploiting complex substrates.
  • reproduction: Many water plants rely more on vegetative reproduction than on seeds for dispersal.
  • state: He would have been in a vegetative state for the rest of his life.
  • growth: To flower freely, vegetative growth must not be more than moderate.
  • spread: In addition to low levels of seed production, vegetative spread is very slow.

Modifying Another Word

  • purely: In the UK, the reproduction of Japanese knotweed is purely vegetative.
  • permanently: Patients who are permanently vegetative or minimally aware are not usually admitted and patients with tracheotomies are only admitted under exceptional circumstances.
  • only: In situations where seedlings cannot establish ( i.e. where vegetation management does not produce patches of bare soil ) only vegetative spread occurs.

Used with adjective complement

  • remain: For instance Jennett and Teasdale [ 8 ] describe the case of a man who remained vegetative for 18 years.