like a vegetable
1
9.1
- idiom
- Offensive
:
como un vegetal
- Like a vegetable, said the doctor.
Examples
-
"I'd rather work and hurt," he grumbled, "than sit around like a vegetable."
Fiction book (1999) -
In a short time, neglect reduces a small child to an unresponsive, passive creature who seems subhuman, like a vegetable.
Fiction book (2001) -
Like normal, what I said, like normal retarded or like a vegetable?
Fiction book (1990) -
Of course, Castor just lies there like a vegetable.
Fiction book (1997) -
Sasquatch, sounds like a vegetable, don't it?
-
For example, one participant defined incapacitated as being "just like a vegetable, and I never want to be that kind of a burden to anybody."
Academic text (1995) -
YOU COULD END UP LIKE A VEGETABLE.
-
American Ambassador Clare Timberlake complained: "Kasavubu acts more like a vegetable every day while Lumumba continues to display brilliant broken field running."
Academic text (1992) -
After working long hours every day for months, I felt as if I was living my life like a vegetable.
-
She lay on the couch, staring blankly at the wall, completely like a vegetable after her exhausting week.
Synonyms
15
5.3
Being very tired and slow with little interest or energy
6
8.4
Moving slowly and not fully aware because you are very tired
1
8.2
To move slowly and have little energy or interest
1
6.7
Very inactive and showing little interest or energy
Very tired and unable to think clearly
Dull and showing little energy or interest
To feel very lazy and not want to do anything
Antonyms
How Active
Surface Forms
Morphology
like + a + vegetable
The phrase is a simple simile: 'like' signals similarity and 'vegetable' evokes something inanimate or unresponsive, so the meaning 'inactive/unresponsive' can be directly inferred from the constituents. This compositional mapping is straightforward and common cross-linguistically, so a B1 learner who knows the words would very likely understand the intended sense.
Etymology
The phrase like a vegetable comes from the image of a vegetable, a plant that sits still and does not move or react. So, when someone looks motionless and does not respond, saying they are like a vegetable means 'inactive or unresponsive'.