sporulate

S1P3O1R1U1L1A1T1E1

verb

To produce spores.

Scrabble 11
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Meanings

sporulate1

verbsporulate (third-person singular simple present sporulates, present participle sporulating, simple past and past participle sporulated)

present singular third person sporulates · participle present sporulating · participle past sporulated · past sporulated

  1. intransitivebiologyTo produce spores.

    She was also their science teacher and had taught them about slime molds in biology class, about how the singular organisms came together to form a multicellular body in order to sporulate and reproduce, before breaking apart again.

    2021, Ruth Ozeki, The Book of Form and Emptiness, Canongate Books (2022), pages 95–96
  2. transitiveTo convert into spores.

    A part of the protoplasm is not sporulated but forms a capillitium.

    1885, Edwin Ray Lankester, Encyclopædia Britannica, volume vol. XIX. 854/1

sporulate2

adjectivesporulate (not comparable)
  1. not comparablebiologyThat produces spores

Origin

sporulate · verb

From sporule + -ate (verb-forming suffix).

Full word history & related roots →

sporulate · adjective

From sporul(e) + -ate (adjective-forming suffix).

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

sporulate. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sporulate

MLA

“sporulate.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sporulate. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “sporulate,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sporulate.

Source: sporulate on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.