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HOW TO PRONOUNCE

vegetable

/ˈvɛd͡ʒ.tə.bəl/

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American Pronunciation Guide · 1:05
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The middle is shorter than the spelling suggests.

Use three syllables, stressing VEJ. The middle is shorter than the spelling suggests.

TRY SAYING
A vegetable soup.

APG practice sentence · CC BY-SA 4.0

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0

What does vegetable mean?

noun

  1. A plant raised for some edible part of it, such as the leaves, roots, fruit or flowers, but excluding any plant considered to be a fruit, grain, herb, or spice in the culinary sense, and usually including non-plants lumped into the same culinary category, such as edible mushrooms and seaweed.
  2. The edible part of such a plant.

adjective

  1. Of or relating to plants.
More meanings (4)

adjective

  1. Of or relating to vegetables.

noun

  1. (archaic) Any plant.
  2. (derogatory, figuratively) A person whose brain (or, infrequently, whose body) has been damaged to the point that they cannot interact with the surrounding environment; a person in a persistent vegetative state.
  3. (historical, slang) A mine (explosive device).

Definitions regrouped for readability · CC BY-SA 4.0

IPA pronunciation

/ˈvɛd͡ʒ.tə.bəl/

Pronunciation used in the listening tip.

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0

Other dictionary pronunciations

/ˈvɛt͡ʃ.tə.bəl/
Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0

Pronunciation varies by speaker and region. About these dictionary pronunciations.

In the pages of books

See this word in context.

While the mixture cooled, he and Elnora walked through the vegetable garden behind the cabin and strayed from there into the woods.
Gene Stratton-PorterA Girl of the LimberlostProject Gutenberg ebook #125
Deer heads went into it whole, as well as every kind of meat and vegetable the members of the tribe could procure.
Anna Howard Shaw; Elizabeth Garver JordanThe Story of a PioneerProject Gutenberg ebook #354
More book examples (3)
At the close of this ceremony the ladies were invited to partake of a feast prepared wholly of vegetables and vegetable oils.
Isaac Taylor HeadlandCourt Life in China: The Capital, Its Officials and PeopleProject Gutenberg ebook #523
Never-failing mountain streams, deep canons and dark forests wait to be visited and explored, while curiosities in animal and vegetable life abound.
J. A. (Joseph Amasa) MunkArizona SketchesProject Gutenberg ebook #756
I opened the stomachs of several, and found them full of vegetable fibres and leaves of different trees, especially of an acacia.
Charles DarwinThe Voyage of the BeagleProject Gutenberg ebook #944