Vegetate

Vegetate is a verb with several related meanings. In botany and horticulture, to vegetate means to grow vegetation or to cause plants to grow; land or crops may be described as vegetating when conditions are favorable and growth proceeds. In everyday language, vegetate can also describe a person who is living in a passive or unchanging manner, often implying dullness or inactivity. In medical contexts, the term “vegetative state” refers to a condition following severe brain injury in which wakefulness persists but conscious awareness is absent.

The word derives from Latin vegetare “to grow, flourish,” from vegetus “lively,” and is connected to vegetation and vegetable. The form is used mainly in formal or clinical contexts, while everyday speech more often uses phrases like “to sit around” or “to be unproductive.” The terms vegetation and vegetable share the same root but have distinct meanings: vegetation refers to plant life as a collective; a vegetable is a plant or part of a plant used as food.

Usage notes: The sense of passive living is informal and can be pejorative. The medical sense of vegetative state is a clinical term with specific criteria and is not interchangeable with coma. Examples: “The garden began to vegetate after spring rains.” “After the accident, he vegetated in front of the television.” “Some patients progress from a vegetative state to minimal conscious state.”