vegetate

Definition

To grow or sprout.

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin vegetatum, past participle of vegeto (“I enliven, I arouse”).

Example Sentences

• "Nor indeed is it likely I shall now ever be able to do more than vegetate, for my few remaining years or months in this or some other solitude. It is literally vegetating, for I have very little locomotive powers beyond those that appertain to a cauliflower."
• "I am amazed to see a young man of your appearance and talents—though, after I have been thus depreciating the latter, it is almost an affront to say any thing about those you possess—I am amazed to see you vegetating among your own oaks, as if, like them, growth were your only value.""
• "We are isolated, locked in hospital rooms 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, subjected to discrimination stemming from hatred, with no constructive programs or activities to occupy our minds. We vegitate ^([sic]) and deteriorate physically and emotionally."

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