Meaning & use
pollinate
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Meanings
verbtransitive
To move pollen from one flower to another so that the plant can make seeds.
Grammar: Takes an object: bees pollinate flowers.
Patterns
- pollinate something
- be pollinated by something
Bees pollinate many of the fruits and vegetables we eat.
These flowers are pollinated by night-flying moths.
Farmers often keep beehives to pollinate their orchards.
verbtransitive
To apply pollen to a plant by hand, especially in farming or gardening.
Grammar: Takes an object: pollinate the flowers with a brush.
Patterns
- pollinate something by hand
- pollinate something with something
Gardeners may pollinate tomatoes by hand if there are no bees around.
She used a small brush to pollinate the orchids.
Word forms
| third person singular | pollinates |
|---|---|
| past tense | pollinated |
| past participle | pollinated |
| -ing form | pollinating |
Common combinations
- pollinate flowers
- Butterflies pollinate flowers as they feed on nectar.
- pollinate crops
- Wild bees pollinate crops worth billions of dollars.
- pollinate by hand
- Without insects, farmers must pollinate by hand.
- insects pollinate
- Insects pollinate plants as they move from bloom to bloom.
Synonyms and how they differ
- fertilize
- Fertilize is a broader term that can mean adding nutrients to soil or making an egg fertile; pollinate specifically refers to moving pollen.
Word family
- pollination noun
- The process of moving pollen from flower to flower.
- pollinator noun
- An animal or insect that carries pollen.
- self-pollinate verb
- To pollinate itself, as some plants do.
Commonly confused: pollinate or pollute?
pollinate vs pollute
Pollute means to make air, water, or land dirty; pollinate is about transferring pollen.
Practice
Bees ___ flowers as they collect nectar.
Choose one answer.
The sentence needs a verb in the present tense to describe a general fact, so 'pollinate' is correct. 'Pollinated' is past tense, 'pollinating' would need a helping verb, and 'pollination' is a noun.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “pollinate”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.