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Biology vocabulary · Plant Biology

Germinate

Meaning in biology, with examples

/ˈdʒɜːrmɪneɪt/verbCommon term

In biology, germinate means: Of a seed or spore, to start growing and develop into a new plant or organism, usually once it has enough water, oxygen and the right temperature.

In Turkish: çimlenmek, çimlendirmek

How it is used

Used without an object (the seeds germinated) and with one (we germinated the seeds on wet filter paper). The noun is germination: germination rate, germination test. Some seeds stay dormant and need cold or light before they germinate.

Example sentences

  1. Most of the seeds germinated within five days at 20 °C.

  2. Salt stress reduced the germination rate by almost half.

Common collocations

  • seeds germinate
  • germination rate
  • germination test
  • fail to germinate
  • pollinationThe transfer of pollen from the male part of a flower (the anther) to the female part (the stigma), which allows fertilization and seed production in flowering plants.
  • photosynthesisThe process in which plants, algae and some bacteria use light energy to make glucose from carbon dioxide and water, releasing oxygen as a by-product.
  • sexual reproductionA form of reproduction in which two gametes, usually from two parents, fuse to form a new individual with a unique mix of genes.

More terms: Plant Biology

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