botanist
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of botanist
1675–85; botan ( ism ) botany (< Greek botanismós, equivalent to botán ( ē ) plant + -ismos -ism ) + -ist
Explanation
Use the noun botanist to describe a biologist whose specialty is plants — the way they grow, the differences between them, and everything else that has to do with plant science. The earliest botanists, in the 1500s, began a system of classifying plants scientifically, while modern botanists study the DNA of plants as well as their uses in medicine and nutrition. The root word is botanic, from the Greek botanikos, "of herbs."
Vocabulary lists containing botanist
Because of Mr. Terupt
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Wishtree
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"The Science of Breakable Things" by Tae Keller, List 1
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Baimedov, who has become an amateur botanist, tends to about 15,000 saplings, which are aimed at forming a green wall against the sand.
From Barron's • Dec. 18, 2025
The poinsettias we buy today are significantly different from the tall, gangly plants botanist Joel Roberts Poinsett discovered in Mexico in 1825, after he became that country’s first U.S. ambassador.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 20, 2025
Its Japanese name honors Jukichi Shiraga, a botanist from Niimi City who discovered the plant.
From Science Daily • Nov. 3, 2025
Sarah Shuttleworth, a botanist with Plantlife, argues that certain intensive farming methods have contributed.
From BBC • Oct. 30, 2025
According to Charles R. Clement, the Manaus botanist, though, the first Amazonians did avoid the Dilemma of Rainfall Physics.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
