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Glite Dictionary
to sow seed

to sow seed

1 2.2
To plant seeds in the ground so they can grow
  • phrasal verb
  • /soʊ siːd/
translation icon : sembrar
  • Thinning mostly has to do with direct sowing seeds right in the ground.
  • sow seed indoors
  • sow seeds 1 inch
  • sow seed directly

Examples

  • And what we're going to do is we are going to sow seeds about every two inches.

  • The guest crumbled the clump of earth, then sprinkled it on the ground like he was sowing seeds.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • The state tries to sow seeds of doubt and division.

    Blog text (32)

  • We can sow seeds, but ultimately they are going to have to convince themselves.

    Blog text (14)

  • That is the thing with sowing seeds of an idea: they have to be done very carefully, contrived with love and pleasure.

    Blog text (7)

  • So each morning and evening he fed the garden from his helmet, sprinkling the light soil like someone sowing seed.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • Jesus says the soil went forth sowing seed and some fell by the wayside, some fell amongst rocks, some fell amongst stones.

  • I'm ready to sow seeds like I used to, but first I have to get my lazy ass to the real nursery to get some growth media.

    Blog text (11)

  • Soon, fields encircled by rough stone walls and farmers plowing around the sides of hills were common sights, if not exactly frequent, along with lines of people moving across the plowed ground, sowing seed from sacks slung from their shoulders.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • In early spring, gardeners begin to sow seed to ensure a vibrant flower display in summer.

Synonyms

to plant
vsto sow seed
361 1.0

To put seeds or young plants into the soil so they grow

is limited to planting seeds only rather than including seedlings
to sow
vsto sow seed
45 1.8

To plant seeds in the ground so they grow

has identical meaning but is the two-word phrasal form
to seed
vsto sow seed
4 1.3

To put seeds in the ground to grow plants

restricts meaning to planting seeds specifically rather than plant reproduction
to broadcast
vsto sow seed
  • Specialized
3 4.5

To scatter seeds widely over the ground

describes general planting into soil rather than a scattering method
to sow in
vsto sow seed
1 3.4

To put seeds in the ground so they can grow

is the same action but as a verb plus preposition
to inseminate
vsto sow seed
1 8.2

Put seeds in the ground so they grow

is the everyday gardening term rather than a technical word

Antonyms

to harvest
84 1.6

To gather ripe crops from the fields

How Much

to overseed
1 4.9
to sow seed
1 2.2
to plant
361 1.0

Surface Forms

sow seed infinitive
sowing seed present participle
sows seed third person singular
sowed seed past
sowed seed past participle

Morphology

sow + seed

The meaning 'to plant seeds in the ground' is directly and compositionally derived from 'sow' (to plant or scatter seeds) combined with 'seed' (what is being planted). This is a literal, cross-linguistically common agricultural collocation and would be immediately understandable to a B1 learner who knows the constituent words.

Etymology

Sow seed comes from farming. People would sow seed by spreading it across a field so plants could grow, so the phrase means 'to plant seeds in the ground'.