Herman Wouk
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Burgeon arrived in Middle English as burjonen, a borrowing from the Anglo-French verb burjuner, meaning "to bud or sprout." Burgeon is often used figuratively, as when writer Ta-Nehisi Coates used it in his 2008 memoir The Beautiful Struggle: "… I was in the burgeoning class of kids whose families made too much for financial aid but not enough to make tuition payments anything less than a war." Usage commentators have objected to the use of burgeon to mean "to flourish" or "to grow rapidly," insisting that any figurative use should stay true to the word's earliest literal meaning and distinguish budding or sprouting from subsequent growing. But the sense of burgeon that indicates growing or expanding and prospering (as in "the burgeoning music scene" or "the burgeoning international market") has been in established use for decades and is, in fact, the most common use of burgeon today.
Examples of burgeon in a Sentence
Dalton Ross, Entertainment Weekly, 12 Mar. 2026
Home to impressive Gilded Age architecture and a burgeoning dining scene, America’s oldest city continues to draw visitors who appreciate the past alongside the present.
—Symiah Dorsey, Southern Living, 12 Mar. 2026
Atom Power is shifting focus from electric vehicle charging equipment to the burgeoning data center industry.
—Charlotte Observer, 11 Mar. 2026
In recent months, the ability of Russia’s state finances to stay on a wartime footing had come into question, amid burgeoning inflation and a growing budget deficit.
—Nathan Hodge, CNN Money, 11 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for burgeon
Cite this Entry
“Burgeon.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/burgeon. Accessed 14 Mar. 2026.
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burgeon
verb
