transplant

1 of 2

verb

trans·​plant ˌtran(t)s-ˈplant How to pronounce transplant (audio)
transplanted; transplanting; transplants

transitive verb

1
: to lift and reset (a plant) in another soil or situation
2
: to remove from one place or context and settle or introduce elsewhere : relocate
3
: to transfer (an organ or tissue) from one part or individual to another

intransitive verb

: to tolerate being transplanted
does not transplant as well as other varieties
transplantability noun
transplantable adjective
transplantation noun
transplanter noun

transplant

2 of 2

noun

trans·​plant ˈtran(t)s-ˌplant How to pronounce transplant (audio)
1
a
: a person or thing that is transplanted
b
: a manufacturing plant set up locally by a foreign automobile company to save on shipping costs
bumpers shipped to a Japanese transplant in the U.S.
2
: the act or process of transplanting

Examples of transplant in a Sentence

Verb She carefully transplanted the seedlings. The bush was transplanted to a different part of the garden. Doctors transplanted one of his kidneys into his sister. a recipient of a transplanted heart The group transplanted the beavers to another part of the state. She is a New Yorker who recently transplanted to the West Coast. Noun The heart transplant was successful. He is going to need a liver transplant. The doctors are trying to keep him alive until a liver can be found for transplant. The patient's body rejected the transplant. She received a bone marrow transplant from an unknown donor. She's a Southern transplant who now lives in New York.
Recent Examples on the Web
Verb
Stone’s Bella begins as an an undeveloped human whose brain has been transplanted into the body of a woman. Zoe G Phillips, The Hollywood Reporter, 10 Mar. 2024 Hybridizes freely with many other species; many nursery plants may be hybrids. Easier to transplant than other hellebores. Southern Living Editors, Southern Living, 8 Feb. 2024 Xenotransplantation—transplanting organs from nonhuman species into humans—has seen numerous successes in recent years. Sara Reardon, Scientific American, 18 Jan. 2024 John Oliver Hearts One Tree Hill More people need to be talking about the scene in One Tree Hill when a dog ate a heart that was about to be transplanted. Vulture, 8 Dec. 2023 This would seem to suggest that all Israeli Jews be transplanted to the United States. Daniel Foster, National Review, 30 Nov. 2023 Once the plant begins to outgrow the shell, crack the bottom and transplant the shell directly into a garden pot. Southern Living Editors, Southern Living, 31 Jan. 2024 When the sprouts are big enough, they are transplanted in uncultivated lands around their town owned or rented by the family. Tucker Harris, Washington Post, 23 Jan. 2024 Instead of transplanting the pig liver into the body, the researchers kept the organ in a machine next to it. Sara Reardon, Scientific American, 18 Jan. 2024
Noun
As the siblings grew up, Michael was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at age 3 and dealt with major health complications in his youth, including heart failure that required a transplant at 13 years old and open-heart surgery after a blood clot was discovered a few years later. Nicole Briese, Peoplemag, 12 Mar. 2024 Once solidly Republican, the district has been reconfigured by redistricting, and has undergone a political transition driven by younger, more diverse transplants from L.A. seeking affordable housing in Santa Clarita and the Antelope Valley. Julia Wick, Los Angeles Times, 10 Mar. 2024 Goldman, whose daughter was conceived through IVF after a uterus transplant, hopes to become pregnant with a second child. Kim Chandler, Fortune, 7 Mar. 2024 During one kidney transplant by Murray, Dr. Alexandre was invited into the operating room. Brian Murphy, Washington Post, 2 Mar. 2024 Ordinary Angels is based on the real-life story of a woman from Louisville, Kentucky, who helped a little girl get a life-saving liver transplant in the middle of a historic snowstorm in January 1994. Meghan Overdeep, Southern Living, 26 Feb. 2024 Two of them—the Alaskan transplant J. C. Schoonmaker and the Vermonter Ben Ogden—had ended up on podiums in the course of the year. Bill McKibben, The New Yorker, 22 Feb. 2024 Prayers for the big guy here as Scott Pollard is about to undergo a heart transplant. Jason Anderson, Sacramento Bee, 17 Feb. 2024 The egg harvesting was successful, and five years later, in remission again after the stem cell transplant, Greenwood and her husband went through IVF to try to get pregnant. Meg Tirrell, CNN, 3 Mar. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'transplant.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Verb

Middle English transplaunten, from Late Latin transplantare, from Latin trans- + plantare to plant

First Known Use

Verb

15th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

Noun

1756, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Time Traveler
The first known use of transplant was in the 15th century

Dictionary Entries Near transplant

Cite this Entry

“Transplant.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/transplant. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

transplant

1 of 2 verb
trans·​plant tran(t)s-ˈplant How to pronounce transplant (audio)
1
: to dig up and plant in another soil or situation
transplant seedlings
2
: to remove from one place and settle or introduce elsewhere
transplanted beavers to other parts of the state
a New Yorker transplanted to the West coast
3
: to transfer (an organ or tissue) from one part or individual to another
transplantation noun
transplanter noun

transplant

2 of 2 noun
trans·​plant ˈtran(t)s-ˌplant How to pronounce transplant (audio)
1
: something or someone transplanted
2
: the act or process of transplanting

Medical Definition

transplant

1 of 2 transitive verb
trans·​plant tran(t)s-ˈplant How to pronounce transplant (audio)
: to transfer from one place to another
especially : to transfer (an organ or tissue) from one part or individual to another

transplant

2 of 2 noun
trans·​plant ˈtran(t)s-ˌplant How to pronounce transplant (audio)
1
: something (as an organ or part) that is transplanted
2
: the act or process of transplanting : transplantation
performed a kidney transplant
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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