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grow

Syllabification: (grow)
Pronunciation: /grō/
Translate grow | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of grow

verb (past grew /gro͞o/; past participle grown /grōn/)

[no object]
  • 1(of a living thing) undergo natural development by increasing in size and changing physically; progress to maturity:he would watch Nick grow to manhood (as adjective growing)the linguistic skills acquired by the growing child (as adjective grown)the stupidity of grown men hitting a ball with a stick
  • (of a plant) germinate and develop:seaweed grows in the ocean
  • [with object] produce by cultivation:more and more land was needed to grow crops for export
  • [with object] allow or cause (a part of the body) to grow or develop: [with object]:she grew her hair long
  • (of something abstract) come into existence and develop:the Vietnamese diaspora grew out of their national tragedy
  • 2become larger or greater over a period of time; increase:turnover grew to more than $100,000 within three years (as adjective growing)a growing number of people are coming to realize this
  • [with object] cause (something, especially a business) to expand or increase.
  • 3 [with complement] become gradually or increasingly:sharing our experiences, we grew braver
  • [with infinitive] (of a person) come to feel or know something over time:she grew to like the friendly, quiet people at the farm

Phrases

grow on trees

[usually with negative] informal be plentiful or easily obtained:money doesn’t grow on trees

Phrasal Verbs

grow apart

(of two or more people) become gradually estranged.

grow into

become as a result of natural development or gradual increase:Swampscott grew into a fishing village of about three hundred people by the 1850s
become large enough to wear (a garment) comfortably.

grow on

become gradually more appealing to (someone):a house has to grow on you

grow out

disappear because of normal growth:Colette’s old perm had almost grown out

grow out of

become too large to wear (a garment):blazers that they grew out of
become too mature to retain (a childish habit):most children grow out of tantrums by the time they’re three

grow up

advance to maturity; spend one’s childhood and adolescence:I grew up in a small town in Michigan
[often in imperative] begin to behave or think sensibly and realistically:grow up, sister, and come into the real world
arise; develop:a school of painting grew up in Cuzco

Derivatives

growable

adjective

Origin:

Old English grōwan (originally referring chiefly to plants), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch groeien, also to grass and green

Although grow is typically intransitive, as in he grew two inches taller over the summer, its use as a transitive verb has long been standard in such phrases as grow crops and grow a beard. Recently, however, grow has extended its transitive sense and has become popular in business, economics, and government contexts: growing the industry, growing your business, growing your investment, and so on.

grow in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of grow in the British & World English dictionary

Nearby words

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