Definition of verdant
1a : green in tint or colorb : green with growing plants verdant fields
2 : unripe in experience or judgment : green 9a, b
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Recent Examples of verdant from the Web
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Monteverde has long been preferred by foreign reporters for its proximity to the Vatican, while celebrities come for the sweeping views and verdant gardens.
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But in years to come visitors to the French Open will be able to sit down and watch elite level tennis before wandering amidst verdant and varied foliage.
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In 1932, George Marston donated to the city a 9-acre pitch-and-putt, creating a verdant transition between Old Town and the majestic Presidio fort up the hill.
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Crimea, which is roughly the size of Massachusetts, is a landscape of sandy beaches and verdant mountains that juts into the Black Sea.
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Cunliffe said during an interview in the verdant commercial capital of Colombo.
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In the summers, Vick brought him to the refined country estate of Glyndebourne, near the south coast of England, where the opera house set in verdant gardens attracts world-class artists.
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A desert world might have an advantage over a verdant planet, as desert worlds are more resistant to the harmful effects of global warming.
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Located on a verdant belt of subtropical land that slopes from mountains to the warm Indian Ocean, the impoverished South African community of Somkhele, in KwaZulu-Natal, has one of the highest HIV/AIDS infection rates in the world.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'verdant'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Did You Know?
English speakers have been using "verdant" as a ripe synonym of "green" since the late 16th century, and as a descriptive term for inexperienced or naive people since the 1820s. (By contrast, the more experienced "green" has colored our language since well before the 12th century, and was first applied to inexperienced people in the 1540s.) "Verdant" is derived from the Old French word for "green," vert, which in turn is from Latin virērē, meaning "to be green." Today, "vert" is used in English as a word for green forest vegetation and the heraldic color green. Another descendant of "virere" is the adjective virescent, meaning "beginning to be green."
Origin and Etymology of verdant
contracted from Medieval French verdoyant, from present participle of verdoyer “to be green, turn green,” going back to Old French verdoier, from verd, vert “green” (going back to Latin viridis, from a base *wir-, whence virēre “to show green growth, be green” of uncertain origin) + -oier, factitive verb suffix, going back to Latin -idiāre, originally representing variant pronunciation (or spelling variant) of -izāre -ize ◆Latin viridis and virēre have been linked to Lithuanian visti “to multiply, breed,” veisti “to breed, rear,” as well as to Old English wīse “sprout, stalk,” Old High German wisa “meadow,” though the semantic connections are vague enough to make this a very tenuous hypothesis.
VERDANT Defined for English Language Learners
verdant
playDefinition of verdant for English Language Learners
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: green with growing plants
VERDANT Defined for Kids
verdant
playDefinition of verdant for Students
: green with growing plants a verdant landscape
Learn More about verdant
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Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for verdant Spanish Central: Translation of verdant Nglish: Translation of verdant for Spanish speakers
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