germinate

verb

Definition of germinatenext
1
as in to emerge
to come into being A new counterculture germinating in the city's art district.

Related Words

Relevance
2
as in to propagate
to cause (something, as a seed) to grow She began by reading up on the best ways to germinate apple seeds.

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Dissimilar Words

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of germinate Trappe said the new seedlings would germinate and emerge in the springtime, even slightly before the emergence of crabgrass. — Jeff Wagner, CBS News, 15 Sep. 2026 Plant a few seeds and spread them around in a gallon pot—this provides extra insurance, as some seeds may not germinate at all. — Samantha Johnson, Martha Stewart, 14 Sep. 2026 Chickweed, henbit, hairy bittercress, dead nettle and shepherd’s purse all germinate in late summer and early autumn. — Manjot Kaur Sidhu, The Conversation, 10 Sep. 2026 Throughout these years, the seeds of extremism that would forcefully erupt on January 6, 2021, were germinating. — Literary Hub, 25 Aug. 2026 See All Example Sentences for germinate
Recent Examples of Synonyms for germinate
  1. emerge
  2. propagate
  3. evolve
  4. produce
  5. grow
Verb
  • Some data centers are now being built at gigawatt scale—roughly the power demand of a small city, says Anuja Ratnayake, emerging technology executive at the Electric Power Research Institute.
    — Alex Pasternack, Scientific American, 20 Oct. 2026
  • The model became the first real hit in the emerging athletic shoe industry.
    — Phil Wahba, Fortune, 20 Oct. 2026
Definition of emerge
Verb
  • View this post on Instagram Because of the news of her divorce, the post trickled through the celebrity gossip outlets, and that coverage in turn propagated the post through Google search.
    — Mia Sato, The Verge, 15 Oct. 2026
  • The flow of the attacks was (1) finding targets, (2) gaining code execution, (3) establishing inference, and (4) propagating to new hosts.
    — Dan Goodin, ArsTechnica, 14 Oct. 2026
Definition of propagate
Verb
  • The wave function evolves over time in a way that’s dictated by Schrödinger’s equation, named for Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger.
    — Philipp Strasberg, Scientific American, 20 Oct. 2026
  • Dumas was intrigued as Hermès was dealing with a generational crisis of how to evolve the company without losing its core customers.
    — Marisa Meltzer, Vanity Fair, 19 Oct. 2026
Definition of evolve
Verb
  • The three colors are mixed in different combinations and ratios, producing 16 different shades.
    — Devika Rao, TheWeek, 19 Oct. 2026
  • In particular, genes involved in the function of Jonathan's mitochondria -- which are structures inside cells that produce energy -- appeared similar to those from a 5-year-old tortoise named Hatchling.
    — KYLE MELNICK THE WASHINGTON POST, Arkansas Online, 18 Oct. 2026
Definition of produce
Verb
  • Japan considers China's rapidly growing military activities in and around Japan, including in the Pacific Ocean, as a threat and has fortified its southwestern region with longer-range missiles and interceptors in recent years.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 20 Oct. 2026
  • Running Tide had struggled to grow kelp offshore at scale and shifted toward deployments of wood chips mixed with alkaline substances, said former general manager Kristinn Hróbjartsson.
    — Alec Luhn, Scientific American, 20 Oct. 2026
Definition of grow

Browse Nearby Words

germinal
germinate
germinated
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Germinate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/germinate. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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