to breed

Examples

• All

• Erect-crested penguins, which used to breed on Campbell Island, may recolonize now that rats are gone.

  Academic text (2008)

• During the summer months, they breed and feed in the dependable supply of slowly flowing warm water.

  Academic text (2013)

• So you have to actually find the species that breed on the island.

• We hope to breed thousands here.

  Bio-Dome (1996)

• Now she has been certified to breed horses.

  Tabula Rasa (2018)

• One young male returned to breed in a nest within a meter of where he hatched.

  Academic text (2008)

• Mosquitoes can't breed unless it's in a swamp, right?

• And so we began funding more localized, farmer-participatory methods of breeding improved crop varieties.

  Academic text (2008)

• Researchers from Cornell University engineered a resistant tree that was then bred with other varieties.

  Academic text (2012)

• Newell's shearwaters and Hawaiian petrels, in contrast, breed exclusively on the main Hawaiian Islands.

  Academic text (2012)

Synonyms

M

to mate

vsto breed

• NSFW

83 2.8

To have sex to produce young

involves producing offspring often through managed pairing and selection rather than only copulation

M

to multiply

vsto breed

75 3.2

To increase in number quickly by making more of something

focuses on producing offspring specifically, not general rapid numerical increase

R

to reproduce

vsto breed

70 3.7

To make new living things such as animals or plants

is used especially for animals and often implies human-managed offspring production

P

to procreate

vsto breed

27 6.5

To have babies or young

emphasizes human management and selective pairing rather than only natural mating

C

to cross

vsto breed

• Specialized

23 3.9

To breed two different varieties or species to produce offspring

covers both same-type and mixed-type reproduction, not only crossing

P

to propagate

vsto breed

• Specialized

9 6.3

Help plants or animals have young and pass on traits

is mainly for animals and often involves managed mating or selection

H

to hybridize

vsto breed

• Specialized

3 7.0

To cross two different plants or animals to make a new kind

is used for general animal reproduction, not only for mixed-species offspring

C

to crossbreed

vsto breed

3 4.6

To make an animal or plant by mating two different kinds

produces offspring sometimes within the same group rather than by crossing types

I

to interbreed

vsto breed

1 6.5

To mate with another animal or plant of a different type

is broader and can mean controlled pairing within a single variety

O

to outbreed

vsto breed

• Specialized

1 7.2

To breed animals or plants with unrelated ones to increase variation in their genes

aims at introducing outsiders to increase variety, not just producing offspring

O

to outcross

vsto breed

• Specialized

8.0

To breed an animal or plant with one from a different genetic line to increase genetic diversity

focuses on adding genetic diversity by using outside lines rather than general reproduction

Antonyms

I

infertility

• Specialized

55 5.7

Not being able to have a baby

S

sterilization

• Specialized

22 4.9

To stop an animal or person from having babies

Idioms

Compounds

H

half-breed

• Slur

24 9.9

An offensive word for a person with one Indigenous and one European parent

H

half-breed

1 9.3

An animal with only one purebred parent

B

breed line

• Specialized

7.7

A group of animals or plants from the same family that people raise to keep certain traits

How Fertile

to multiply

75 3.2

to spawn

27 4.8

to breed

167 1.8

to reproduce

70 3.7

to procreate

27 6.5

Surface Forms

Etymology