# grow

Pronunciation: say "GROH" US /ɡɹoʊ/, UK /ɡɹəʊ/

## Verb

1. To become larger or increase in size or amount.
   - Simple: To get bigger or increase in amount over time.
   - _The company's profits grew steadily throughout the decade._
   - _Cities grow as more people move in from the countryside._
2. To develop and reach maturity over time.
   - Simple: To get older and become more developed as a person, animal, or thing.
   - _As children grow through their teenage years, they start to see the world from other people's point of view._
   - _The young writer grew into a confident storyteller._
3. To make or let something increase in size, especially to raise plants by planting and tending them.
   - Simple: To help a plant or thing get bigger, often by planting and caring for it.
   - _Farmers in the valley grow wheat and barley each season._
   - _She grew a row of sunflowers along the fence._
4. (Of a plant, hair, etc.) to come up and develop, especially naturally or in a particular place.
   - Simple: If plants or hair grow, they come out and get bigger, often in a particular place.
   - _Wildflowers grow along the edges of the path each spring._
   - _A thick layer of moss grew over the old stone wall._
5. To gradually take on a condition or quality over time.
   - Simple: To slowly start to feel or be a certain way over time.
   - _As the night wore on, the audience grew restless._
   - _Travelers grow weary after long days on the road._

## Verb

6. To become attached or fixed to something; to adhere. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To become stuck or joined firmly to something.

## Origin

The Proto-Indo-European root *gʰreh₁- ("to grow, become green") gave Proto-Germanic *grōaną ("to grow, grow green"), then Old English grōwan ("to grow, increase, flourish, germinate") and Middle English growen. "Growth," "grass," and "green" are relatives, and Dutch groeien and German dialect forms are cognates.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/grow (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).