If someone is in a vegetative state, they are unable to move, think, or speak, and their condition is not likely to improve.
[medicine]
She was in what was described as a vegetative state.
2. adjective [ADJECTIVE noun]
Vegetative growth or development is the growth or development of plants.
[formal]
The harshness of the climate makes vegetative growth extremely slow.
vegetative in British English
(ˈvɛdʒɪtətɪv)
adjective
1.
of, relating to, or denoting the nonreproductive parts of a plant, i.e. the stems, leaves, and roots, or growth that does not involve the reproductive parts
2.
(of reproduction) characterized by asexual processes
3.
of or relating to functions such as digestion, growth, and circulation rather than sexual reproduction
4.
(of a style of living) dull, stagnant, unthinking, or passive
Derived forms
vegetatively (ˈvegetatively)
adverb
vegetativeness (ˈvegetativeness)
noun
vegetative in American English
(ˈvɛdʒəˌteɪtɪv)
adjective
1.
a.
of vegetation, or plants
b.
of or concerned with vegetation, or plant growth
2.
growing, or capable of growing, as plants
3.
designating or of those functions or parts of plants concerned with growth and nutrition as distinguished from reproduction
4.
capable of causing growth in plants; fertile
vegetative material
5.
vegetational
6.
involuntary or passive like the growth of plants; showing little mental activity
a vegetative existence
7. Zoology
of or pertaining to reproduction by budding or other asexual method
Also ˈvegetive (ˈvɛdʒətɪv)
Derived forms
vegetatively (ˈvegeˌtatively)
adverb
vegetativeness (ˈvegeˌtativeness)
noun
Word origin
ME < ML vegetativus < L vegetatus: see vegetate
Examples of 'vegetative' in a sentence
vegetative
My luck, the next pill could be the one to put me in what the doctors would diagnose as a persistent vegetative state.