How to Use vegetative in a Sentence

vegetative

adjective
  • Fire moss looks like green vegetative growth sprouting out of the rooftop.
    — Brett Dvoretz, chicagotribune.com, 10 Apr. 2021
  • The cooked agave and fruity notes carry through to the palate, along with the vegetative and earthy notes.
    — Joseph V Micallef, Forbes, 23 Apr. 2022
  • One day later, the father of two wound up in a vegetative state.
    — ProPublica, 3 May 2020
  • The buds growing on the lower parts of the trunk are vegetative buds.
    — OregonLive.com, 11 May 2017
  • Patients in a vegetative state are awake, but show no signs of awareness.
    — Sydney C Greene, USA TODAY, 16 June 2017
  • Feeding tube if in a vegetative state?
    — Teri Sforza, Oc Register, 20 Aug. 2025
  • Figs take a rest to mature their vegetative buds that begin growth during warm spring days.
    — Tom MacCubbin, OrlandoSentinel.com, 6 Jan. 2018
  • The child was put in intensive care and went into a vegetative state.
    — Imelda García, Dallas News, 13 Nov. 2020
  • Both will cause the plant to remain vegetative instead of setting buds.
    — Neil Sperry, San Antonio Express-News, 29 Oct. 2021
  • The fire’s removal of heavy dead, down trees and thick brush will open up the landscape and allow for new vegetative growth.
    — Saja Hindi, The Denver Post, 8 Sep. 2019
  • Because of all the rain, most of the native wildflowers are all still in a vegetative mode.
    — Orange County Register, 5 Mar. 2017
  • People in a vegetative state show no response at all to such invasions of space.
    — Karen Weintraub, National Geographic, 25 Sep. 2017
  • Another required some kind of a buffer to the north, whether vegetative or a fence.
    — Stacy Ryburn, Arkansas Online, 11 May 2021
  • Rake up and collect all the vegetative matter the poison ivy was touching, too.
    — Andy Wilcox, Better Homes & Gardens, 25 July 2024
  • The pine tree-looking ones are vegetative and the rather phallic looking ones are spore-bearing.
    — oregonlive, 9 May 2020
  • The finish is long and sweet, with lingering chai tea, pepper, and a slight vegetative note.
    — Joseph V Micallef, Forbes, 23 Jan. 2025
  • Two months later he was declared to be in a persistent vegetative state.
    — Adrian Owen, Discover Magazine, 11 Sep. 2017
  • The plant spends its first year in a vegetative state as a low-growing basal rosette, which produces a robust root system.
    — Emily Deletter, The Enquirer, 11 Apr. 2023
  • The lack of oxygen to his brain led to severe brain injury, leaving him in a coma and a vegetative state.
    — Tereza Shkurtaj, People.com, 10 May 2025
  • That could prolong the execution and leave him in a vegetative state instead of killing him.
    — USA TODAY, 26 Jan. 2024
  • He was returned to the US in a vegetative state and died just days after his release.
    — James Griffiths, CNN, 26 Feb. 2021
  • He was flown back to the United States in a vegetative state and died soon afterward.
    — Andrew Selsky, BostonGlobe.com, 10 May 2018
  • Even in areas that evolved with fire, flames that burn too hot can destroy vegetative cover, allowing sand to move with the winds.
    — Matthew Abbott, Environment, 18 Dec. 2020
  • One of them was Otto Warmbier, who returned in a vegetative state and soon died.
    — NBC News, 25 May 2020
  • One of his clients was Jack, whose wife Carrie was in a persistent vegetative state.
    — Josephine Livingstone, New Republic, 12 Jan. 2018
  • One person who was left in a vegetative state died four years later — too long after the disaster for a homicide charge.
    — New York Times, 28 Nov. 2019
  • Sweet and very mildly drying on the palate with herbaceous notes of cut grass, brushy/forest floor, and vegetative flavors of green beans.
    — Joseph V Micallef, Forbes, 3 May 2023
  • Eventually, Quinlan was able to breathe on her own, while still in a vegetative state.
    — Robert S. Olick, The Conversation, 23 Mar. 2026
  • However, more mature plants that are putting on vegetative growth will need 8-10 hours per day.
    — Carrie Honaker, Southern Living, 5 Jan. 2024
  • But Warmbier was returned in a vegetative states and died less than a week after returning home.
    — USA TODAY, 22 Dec. 2017

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'vegetative.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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