irrigate
Americanverb (used with object)
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to supply (land) with water by artificial means, as by diverting streams, flooding, or spraying.
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Medicine/Medical. to supply or wash (an orifice, wound, etc.) with a spray or a flow of some liquid.
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to moisten; wet.
verb
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to supply (land) with water by means of artificial canals, ditches, etc, esp to promote the growth of food crops
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med to bathe or wash out a bodily part, cavity, or wound
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(tr) to make fertile, fresh, or vital by or as if by watering
Other Word Forms
- irrigable adjective
- irrigation noun
- irrigational adjective
- irrigator noun
- nonirrigated adjective
- nonirrigating adjective
- overirrigate verb (used with object)
- reirrigate verb (used with object)
- unirrigated adjective
- well-irrigated adjective
Etymology
Origin of irrigate
1605–15; < Latin irrigātus, past participle of irrigāre to wet, flood, nourish with water, equivalent to ir- ir- 1 + rigā- (stem of rigāre to provide with water, soak) + -tus past participle suffix
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.
Neat rows of collard greens and kale stretch across irrigated beds, while orchards of peach trees — the ranch’s signature fruit — appear throughout the property.
From Los Angeles Times
A network of pumps and pipes then distributes the water across miles of arid land to irrigate the farms that have helped to green the desert.
From BBC
A water system irrigates the plants via a nutrient substrate, a liquid fertiliser that replaces the nutrients and minerals naturally present in the soil.
From Barron's
With practically no fuel left, he is finding it ever harder to harvest and irrigate his crops, relying for power mainly on a solar panel provided by the state.
From Barron's
Fondomonte, part of the Saudi dairy giant Almarai, is by far the largest water user in the area, using dozens of wells to to irrigate alfalfa that it ships overseas to the Middle East.
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.
