garden
noun
a plot of ground, usually near a house, where flowers, shrubs, vegetables, fruits, or herbs are cultivated.
garden
1 American
[gahr-dn]
/ ˈgɑr dn /
noun
-
gardens
plural
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a plot of ground, usually near a house, where flowers, shrubs, vegetables, fruits, or herbs are cultivated.
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a piece of ground or other space, commonly with ornamental plants, trees, etc., used as a park or other public recreation area.
a public garden.
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a fertile and delightful spot or region.
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British. yard.
adjective
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pertaining to, produced in, or suitable for cultivation or use in a garden.
fresh garden vegetables; garden furniture.
verb (used without object)
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gardens,
present (3rd person singular)
-
gardened,
past participle, past
-
gardening
present participle
verb (used with object)
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gardens,
present (3rd person singular)
-
gardened,
past participle, past
-
gardening
present participle
idioms
Garden
2
American
[gahr-dn]
/ ˈgɑr dn /
noun
-
Alexander, 1730?–91, U.S. naturalist, born in Scotland.
-
Mary, 1877–1967, U.S. soprano.
garden
British
/ ˈɡɑːdən /
noun
-
-
US and Canadian word: yard. an area of land, usually planted with grass, trees, flowerbeds, etc, adjoining a house
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( as modifier )
a garden chair
-
-
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an area of land used for the cultivation of ornamental plants, herbs, fruit, vegetables, trees, etc
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( as modifier )
garden tools
-
-
(often plural) such an area of land that is open to the public, sometimes part of a park
botanical gardens
-
-
a fertile and beautiful region
-
( as modifier )
a garden paradise
-
-
(modifier) provided with or surrounded by a garden or gardens
a garden flat
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informal to mislead or deceive a person
adjective
verb
garden
More Idioms
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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garden-likeadjective
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gardenableadjective
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gardenlessadjective
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gardenlikeadjective
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ungardenedadjective
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well-gardenedadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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gardensimple
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gardenssimple
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have gardenedperfect
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has gardenedperfect
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am gardeningprogressive
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are gardeningprogressive
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is gardeningprogressive
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have been gardeningperfect progressive
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has been gardeningperfect progressive
Past
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gardenedsimple
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had gardenedperfect
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was gardeningprogressive
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were gardeningprogressive
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had been gardeningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of garden
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English gardin, from Old North French gardin, Old French jardin, from Germanic; compare Old High German gartin-, German Garten; see also yard 2
Explanation
A garden is a piece of land that's used to grow flowers, vegetables, or other plants. Your grandmother might be so proud of her rose garden that she gives every visitor a tour of it. A vegetable garden is often planted in straight rows, sometimes within a raised bed. Flower gardens can take all sorts of shapes, from tidy to meandering. When you work in your garden, pulling weeds or planting seedlings, you garden. In the UK, a garden is what's called a yard in the US — any bit of land just outside of a house. The phrase "garden variety" means "ordinary:" "Oh he's just a garden variety mixed-breed dog, nothing fancy."
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.
See Examples For:
Ferguson travelled to her father's address in a taxi with slabs and claimed she was helping in him with his garden, the West Midlands force added.
From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026
As the fire raged, mother and son used garden hoses to defend their property as nearby dwellings were torched.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 1, 2026
“The house includes an elevator, four terraces, and a large 58’ deep landscaped back garden.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 1, 2026
English summers are increasingly marked by a once rare ritual: water companies imposing monthslong bans on the use of garden hoses, leaving a nation of gardeners to hand-water their gardens or watch their plants die.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 31, 2026
Nobody is in the back, either, where undershirts flap on a clothing line and a garden bed, dirt and weeds in November, sits waiting to be readied for spring.
From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse
He was a prolific voice actor as well whose credits included “FernGully: The Last Rainforest,” “The Wild Thornberrys” and “Over the Garden Wall.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026
Harry Styles added his voice to the deluge of tributes for Parton, saying at his Madison Square Garden show she was "inspiration to his career".
From BBC ● Aug. 27, 2026
It comes in the wake of recent high-profile industrial incidents, such as a near-miss chemical disaster in Garden Grove that prompted thousands of evacuations in May.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026
Garden designer Ann-Marie Powell created test beds of long-lived plants happy in high temperatures, including Siskiyou Pink plants, native to the southern United States.
From Barron's ● Aug. 25, 2026
We’re on Clover Street, which used to be one of the busiest streets in Garden Heights, but ever since the riots, there’s a bunch of charred rubble and boarded-up buildings.
From "On the Come Up" by Angie Thomas
English summers are increasingly marked by a once rare ritual: water companies imposing monthslong bans on the use of garden hoses, leaving a nation of gardeners to hand-water their gardens or watch their plants die.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 31, 2026
Agricultural fields and meadows ranked between gardens and lawns.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 28, 2026
Its revitalized city center features the Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park, which boasts 158 acres of indoor and outdoor botanic gardens, nature trails and a massive sculpture collection.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 25, 2026
He added: "The streets are littered with plastics and broken glass. I pity neighbours of the park and surrounding streets who see their driveways and gardens used as toilets."
From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2026
The horse-chestnut trees in the Luxembourg gardens were in bloom.
From "The Sun Also Rises" by Ernest Hemingway
Both gardened, and she thinks the accident contributed to their illnesses.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026
Growing up, he often gardened with his grandmother in the yard of her home in Baldwin Park.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 23, 2023
Gen. Kanamine’s father gardened and served food to the host family; his wife cooked and did housework.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 6, 2023
A University of Arkansas researcher found that women over 50 who gardened at least once a week showed higher bone-density readings than those who engaged in jogging, swimming, walking or aerobics.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 15, 2022
And driving along a back Connecticut road, tree-bordered and gardened, I knew he had made me feel better and surer.
From "Travels with Charley in Search of America" by John Steinbeck
The batter looked almost suspiciously vegetable-heavy going into the oven, the sort of mixture that makes you wonder whether you have misunderstood either baking or gardening.
From Salon ● Aug. 31, 2026
Hannah considers gardening to be similar to preparing for a race.
From BBC ● Aug. 30, 2026
"I started documenting my houseplants and my veg on Instagram quite early and gardening definitely was not a massive thing then," said Naomi, 32.
From BBC ● Aug. 30, 2026
The Royal Horticultural Society gardening charity announced this month it is considering moving some of its heat-stressed hydrangea collection from Surrey, southwest of London, to other regions of England.
From Barron's ● Aug. 25, 2026
Landscape gardening was no more than a bohemian fantasy, as well as a lame ambition—so he had analyzed it with the help of Freud—to replace or surpass his absent father.
From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan
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.
