Meaning & use
sow
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Meanings
verbtransitive or intransitive
To put seeds into the ground or scatter them so that plants will grow.
Grammar: Can take an object: sow seeds; or none: farmers sow in spring.
Patterns
- sow something in something
- sow something with something
Farmers sow wheat in the autumn.
She sowed the herbs in small pots.
They sowed the field with barley.
verbtransitivefigurative
To cause a feeling or idea to start spreading, usually something negative.
Grammar: Figurative use with doubt or discord.
Patterns
- sow doubt
- sow discord
The rumor sowed doubt among voters.
He tried to sow confusion in the group.
Their quarrel sowed discord in the family.
nouncountable
A grown female pig, especially one that has had piglets.
Grammar: Pronounced to rhyme with cow.
Patterns
- a sow and her piglets
The sow lay in the straw with her piglets.
A sow can have a dozen young at once.
The farmer fed the sow twice a day.
Word forms
| third person singular | sows |
|---|---|
| past tense | sowed |
| past participle | sown |
| -ing form | sowing |
| plural | sows |
Common combinations
- sow seeds
- We sow seeds in early spring.
- sow the seeds of doubt
- The report sowed the seeds of doubt.
- sow discord
- The rumors sowed discord in the team.
- sow a field
- They sowed the field in March.
- sow wild oats
- He sowed his wild oats before settling down.
- sow and reap
- You reap what you sow.
Synonyms and how they differ
- plant
- Plant covers seeds, seedlings or bulbs, whereas sow is only about seeds.
- scatter
- Scatter just means throwing around, and sow implies a purpose of growth.
- seed
- Seed as a verb is more technical, as in seeding a lawn.
- spread
- Spread is general, and sow suggests starting something that will develop.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: sow or sew? sow or so?
sow vs sew
Sew sounds the same as the verb sow, but means to stitch cloth.
sow vs so
So is a common adverb and conjunction, with the same sound as verb sow.
Practice
Farmers usually ___ wheat in the autumn so it can grow over winter.
Choose one answer.
Sow means to plant seeds. Sew means to stitch, sue is to take to court, and saw is a tool or the past tense of see.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “sow”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.