seeding

seeding — verb

1. When a plant or flower seeds, it grows seeds and drops them so that new plants c

1.verbtransitive / intransitiveB2
Definition

When a plant or flower seeds, it grows seeds and drops them so that new plants can grow from them.

Example

The sunflowers in Tariro's garden began to seed in late summer.

intransitive use: plants seed naturally

If you let the lettuce plant seed, volunteers will appear next spring.

Common collocations
  • go to seed
  • begin to seed
  • finish seeding
Synonyms
  • go to seed

    more common phrasing for the same process, especially when a plant is past its best

Grammar Patterns

seed (intransitive)

seed + direct object (rare, transitive)

Usage Note

Often used in gardening contexts to describe the natural life cycle. When a plant 'goes to seed', it has finished flowering and is now producing seeds.

2. To open up produce such as a melon, pepper, or cucumber and take out its inner s

2.verbtransitiveB1
Definition

To open up produce such as a melon, pepper, or cucumber and take out its inner seeds before cooking or serving.

Example

Hannah seeded the watermelon before cutting it into small cubes for the fruit salad.

transitive: seed + fruit

You should seed the jalapeño peppers if you prefer a milder salsa.

Common collocations
  • seed a melon
  • seed a pepper
  • seed a cucumber
Synonyms
  • deseed

    less common but sometimes used in recipe writing

Grammar Patterns

seed + fruit/vegetable

Usage Note

Common in recipe instructions. Some fruits (watermelon, pomegranate) take more time to seed than others (bell peppers, cucumbers).

Common Mistakes

I seeded the field' (when you meant removing seeds from fruit).
I seeded the watermelon.
The same verb seed has a very different meaning with a field (sow) vs. a fruit (remove seeds); context and direct object make the meaning clear.

3. To put seeds into the ground so that plants will grow there.

3.verbtransitiveB1
Definition

To put seeds into the ground so that plants will grow there.

Example

Vivek seeded the empty vegetable patch with carrots and radishes last weekend.

seed + area + with + crop

The farmers seeded the hillside fields with barley just before the rainy season.

Common collocations
  • seed a field
  • seed a lawn
  • seed with grass
  • seed with wheat
  • newly seeded
Synonyms
  • sow

    more common in everyday English for scattering seeds by hand or machine

  • plant

    general term for putting seeds or young plants into the ground

Antonyms

Grammar Patterns

seed + land/area + with + crop

seed + land/area

Usage Note

In everyday speech, sow or plant is more common than seed as a verb for putting seeds in the ground. Seed is more frequent in agricultural or formal writing.

Common Mistakes

I seeded the tomatoes' (when you mean planted tomato seeds).
I seeded the field with tomatoes.
The verb seed takes the land as its object, not the crop itself.

4. To make a feeling, idea, or situation begin to appear and gradually grow.

4.verbtransitiveB2
Definition

To make a feeling, idea, or situation begin to appear and gradually grow.

Example

The journalist's report seeded doubt about the safety of the new vaccine.

figurative: seed + doubt

Elena's encouragement seeded a lasting passion for marine biology in the young student.

Common collocations
  • seed doubt
  • seed suspicion
  • seed an idea
  • seed passion
  • seed conflict
Synonyms
  • plant

    more common; 'plant an idea' is everyday English while 'seed an idea' is rarer and more literary

  • sow

    same agricultural metaphor, slightly more formal; 'sow the seeds of doubt' is a fixed expression

  • spark

    suggests a sudden, immediate reaction rather than gradual growth

Antonyms
  • quash

    to stop something from developing

  • stifle

    to prevent something from growing

Grammar Patterns

seed + abstract noun (doubt, suspicion, fear, idea, passion)

Usage Note

Frequently used with negative outcomes (doubt, suspicion, distrust) but also with positive ones (passion, curiosity, hope). The metaphor comes from planting a seed that grows slowly.

Common Mistakes

The news seeded panic immediately.' — seed suggests gradual growth, so it sounds odd with 'immediately'.
The news sparked panic immediately.' or 'The news seeded a slow-growing panic.
use spark for sudden reactions, seed for gradual ones.

5. To give a player or team a particular rank in a competition, arranged so that th

5.verbtransitiveB2
Definition

To give a player or team a particular rank in a competition, arranged so that the strongest competitors meet only in later stages of the tournament.

Example

Christopher was seeded fourth in the national squash championships this year.

passive: be seeded + rank

The defending champion is always seeded at the top of the tournament draw.

Common collocations
  • top-seeded
  • seeded first/second/third
  • highly seeded
  • unseeded player
Synonyms
  • rank

    broader term used in any ranking system, not only sports tournaments

Grammar Patterns

be seeded + rank + in + tournament/competition

Usage Note

Almost always used in the passive voice. The opposite is 'unseeded' (not given a seed). Past participle 'seeded' as an adjective is also common: 'the top-seeded player'.

Common Mistakes

The coach seeded the player.' (without a rank).
The coach seeded the player third in the tournament.
You must state what rank or position the player received.

6. To spread chemical substances into clouds so that the clouds release rain or sno

6.verbtransitiveC1
Definition

To spread chemical substances into clouds so that the clouds release rain or snow.

Example

The government funded a project to seed clouds during the long dry season.

technical: cloud seeding project

Scientists seeded the clouds with silver iodide to bring rain to the drought-stricken region.

seed + clouds + with + chemical

Common collocations
  • cloud seeding
  • seed clouds
  • silver iodide
  • artificial rain
  • weather modification

Grammar Patterns

seed + clouds + with + chemical

cloud seeding (noun phrase)

Usage Note

Most commonly appears in the compound noun 'cloud seeding'. The verb is used in technical or news reporting about weather modification.

Common Mistakes

They seeded the clouds to make it rain.' (acceptable in casual speech but imprecise). For a more natural phrasing:
They carried out cloud seeding to increase rainfall.
The noun phrase 'cloud seeding' is more common than the verb in everyday use.

Word family

  • seed
    nounB1
  • seed
    verbB1
  • seeded
    adjectiveB2
  • seedless
    adjectiveB1
  • seedling
    nounB2
  • seeder
    nounC1
  • unseeded
    adjectiveC1

Synonym discussion

Sense: verb/4

Seed, plant, and sow all share the agricultural metaphor of putting something into the ground to grow, but each emphasises a different aspect. Seed focuses on the starting point — the moment an idea or feeling is introduced — and often suggests a gradual, organic development. Plant is the most common everyday word ('plant an idea in someone's head') and implies that the idea takes root and grows over time. Sow is slightly more formal and is often used in the fixed expression 'sow the seeds of doubt/conflict'. Spark and trigger describe much faster, more immediate reactions: spark suggests a single event that ignites something ('spark a debate'), while trigger implies a mechanism that releases a response ('trigger a panic'). Unlike these, seed never suggests suddenness. For example: 'Her quiet comment seeded a slow shift in public opinion over several years,' but 'His angry outburst sparked an instant argument.'

plant ↗sowspark ↗trigger ↗

Common collocations

Adverbs

  • naturally seeded
  • artificially seeded
  • newly seeded
  • heavily seeded
  • lightly seeded

Phrases

  • go to seed
  • cloud seeding

Prepositions

Etymology

Proto-Indo-EuropeanProto-GermanicOld EnglishMiddle EnglishEnglish

Seeding is the present participle and gerund form of the verb seed, which comes from the Old English noun sǣd ('that which may be sown'). That noun traces back to Proto-Germanic *sēdiz, from the Indo-European root *sē- ('to sow'). The verb form appeared in Middle English. The figurative sense — seeding an idea or feeling — emerged in the 1500s. The sports-ranking sense developed in the late 1800s, and cloud seeding entered the language in the mid-1900s with the rise of weather-modification technology.