Meaning & use
sprout
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Meanings
verbtransitive or intransitive
to start to grow, especially from a seed or plant, or to produce new shoots
Grammar: Can be used without an object (the seeds sprouted) or with an object (the plant sprouted new leaves).
Patterns
- something sprouts
- sprout from something
- sprout into something
- sprout something
The bean seeds sprouted within a week.
After the rain, new grass sprouted in the garden.
The old tree sprouted fresh green leaves in spring.
verbintransitivefigurative
to appear suddenly and in large numbers
Grammar: Often used figuratively for things like buildings, ideas, or businesses; usually followed by up or a place phrase.
Patterns
- sprout up
- sprout in/around something
New coffee shops have sprouted up all over the city.
Doubts sprouted in her mind as she read the contract.
Office buildings sprouted along the highway.
nouncountable
a young shoot or bud growing from a plant or seed
Grammar: Countable: a sprout, two sprouts. Often used in the plural for the edible shoots of certain plants.
Patterns
- a sprout of something
- bean sprouts
Tiny green sprouts appeared in the vegetable patch.
She added fresh bean sprouts to the stir-fry.
The plant sends out a new sprout every spring.
Word forms
| third person singular | sprouts |
|---|---|
| past tense | sprouted |
| past participle | sprouted |
| -ing form | sprouting |
| plural | sprouts |
Common combinations
- sprout up
- New apartment blocks are sprouting up everywhere.
- bean sprouts
- I like bean sprouts in my salad.
- sprout from
- The seedlings sprout from the soil in early spring.
- sprout leaves
- The trees sprout leaves in April.
- sprout wings
- The caterpillar seemed to sprout wings and became a butterfly.
Synonyms and how they differ
- germinate
- Germinate is more technical and refers specifically to a seed starting to grow; sprout can also mean producing shoots from an existing plant.
- bud
- Bud means producing small new growth that has not yet opened; sprout often suggests the growth is already visible and developing.
- shoot
- As a verb, shoot can mean growing quickly, but it is less common than sprout for new plant growth.
Opposites
Word family
- sprouting noun
- the process of beginning to grow
Commonly confused: sprout or sprout?
sprout vs sprout
Not to be confused with 'spout', which means to pour out or a tube for pouring. Sprout is about growth; spout is about liquid or speech.
Practice
Choose the correct sentence:
Choose one answer.
Sprout means to begin to grow, so seeds sprouting into plants is correct. The other options use sprout with meanings that don't fit (sprout is not about drains, noises, or objects like books).
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “sprout”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.