vegetative

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   relating to plant growth or to asexual propagation from stems, roots, leaves, or other nonreproductive parts

   The gardener used vegetative propagation to produce identical plants from cuttings.

2. 2
   adj

   relating to basic involuntary functions such as growth, nutrition, and circulation

   Breathing and digestion are among the body's vegetative functions.

3. 3
   adj

   passive, inactive, or involving little conscious thought

   Months of isolation had reduced his routine to a dull, vegetative existence.

Through Middle French vegetatif from Medieval Latin vegetativus, based on Latin vegetare, 'to enliven, animate, or cause to grow.' The botanical and physiological senses preserve the older idea of life's basic growth and nourishment; the passive sense arose when mere biological existence was contrasted with active thought.

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