Meaning & use
prune
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Meanings
verbtransitive
To cut away dead, damaged, or overgrown branches from a plant so that it grows better.
Grammar: Takes an object naming the plant; 'back' shows reduction in size: prune the hedge back.
Patterns
- prune a tree/bush
- prune something back
He spent the morning pruning the rose bushes.
Prune the apple tree in late winter, before the new buds open.
She pruned the hedge back so the garden gate could open properly.
verbtransitivefigurative
To reduce something by removing the parts that are unnecessary or unwanted.
Grammar: Transitive and figurative; the object is something like costs, staff, or a piece of writing, not a plant.
Patterns
- prune costs/the budget
- prune staff
- prune a text/manuscript
The new manager pruned the department's budget by ten percent.
I need to prune this article, which is twice the required length.
During the recession the company pruned hundreds of jobs.
nouncountable
A dried plum, eaten as a snack or used in cooking and baking.
Grammar: Countable; usually plural when talking about the food in general.
Patterns
- eat prunes
- stewed prunes
- prune juice
She added chopped prunes and walnuts to the cake mixture.
A small bowl of prunes is part of his breakfast most days.
Prune juice is often drunk to help digestion.
Word forms
| third person singular | prunes |
|---|---|
| past tense | pruned |
| past participle | pruned |
| -ing form | pruning |
| plural | prunes |
Common combinations
- prune a hedge/bush
- He prunes the hedge every spring to keep it neat.
- prune back
- We pruned the ivy back from the windows before winter.
- prune costs/the budget
- They pruned advertising costs ahead of the merger.
- heavily pruned
- The heavily pruned tree looked bare but grew back thicker than ever.
Synonyms and how they differ
- trim
- Trim means cutting lightly to tidy something or reduce it slightly; prune suggests careful, selective cutting away to improve future growth.
- cut back
- Cut back is more general and can apply to spending, growth, or activities; prune adds the image of removing selected unwanted parts.
- lop
- Lop means cutting branches off, often roughly or in large amounts, without the care and purpose that pruning implies.
Opposites
Word family
- pruning noun
- The act of cutting plants, or the cuttings themselves.
- pruner noun
- A person who prunes, or a tool used for pruning.
Practice
The editor asked her to ___ the article down to 800 words before publication.
Choose one answer.
Prune means to cut away unnecessary parts, which fits reducing an article's length. Prolong means to make longer, promote means to support or advertise, and pronounce means to say — none can take 'the article down to 800 words'.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “prune”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.