ˌvejəˈtāshən noun
( -s )
Etymology: Medieval Latin vegetation-, vegetatio, from vegetatus (past participle of vegetare to grow, flourish) + Latin -ion-, -io -ion
1. : the act or process of growing as a plant does : vegetable growth, development, or activity
2. : inert existence : life removed from the stimulation of social and intellectual activity : dull and stagnant living
lived a life of serene vegetation — William Faulkner
3. : plant life or total plant cover (as of an area, forest, or prairie)
all life depends on the photosynthetic action of vegetation
— sometimes distinguished from flora as concerned with mass effects or individuals rather than kinds of plants
though the flora was small at this time it formed a heavy vegetation chiefly of tree ferns and primitive gymnosperms
4. : an abnormal outgrowth upon a part resembling in form a plant or sponge ; specifically : one of the warty excrescences on the valves of the heart that are composed of fibrin, collagen, and other tissue elements and are typical of endocarditis