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fertilizer

American  
[fur-tl-ahy-zer] / ˈfɜr tlˌaɪ zər /

noun

  1. any substance used to fertilize the soil, especially a commercial or chemical manure.

  2. a person, insect, etc., that fertilizes an animal or plant.

    Bees are fertilizers of flowers.
fertilizer British  
/ ˈfɜːtɪˌlaɪzə /

noun

  1. any substance, such as manure or a mixture of nitrates, added to soil or water to increase its productivity

  2. an object or organism such as an insect that fertilizes an animal or plant

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
fertilizer Scientific  
/ fûr′tl-ī′zər /

  1. Any of a large number of natural and synthetic materials, including manure and compounds containing nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, spread on or worked into soil to increase its capacity to support plant growth. Synthetic fertilizers can greatly increase the productivity of soil but have high energy costs, since fossil fuels are required as a source of hydrogen, which is necessary to fix nitrogen in ammonia.

Etymology

Origin of fertilizer

First recorded in 1655–65; fertilize + -er 1

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

As some have pointed out on the social-media platform X and elsewhere, the Strait of Hormuz is not just for crude-oil shipments, with fertilizer also traversing the waterway.

From MarketWatch

With costs for necessary inputs such as fertilizer and seeds higher than they were at this time last year, cash-strapped farmers are stuck in a vicious cycle.

From The Wall Street Journal

"More fertilizer produced more biomass but did not lead to noticeable changes in CO2 or methane emissions in our experiment," says Zhao.

From Science Daily

Ethiopia, under Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, made fertilizer, quality seeds and technical agricultural advice available to small farmers.

From The Wall Street Journal

We need it to clean up things like fertilizer, chemicals and aviation fuel — products without cheaper clean alternatives that are made in specialized industrial complexes overseen by trained technicians.

From Los Angeles Times

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.