sporulate

English

Etymology 1

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

Verb

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

1. (biology, intransitive) To produce spores.
   • 2021, Ruth Ozeki, The Book of Form and Emptiness, Canongate Books (2022), pages 95–96:

     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.

2. (transitive) To convert into spores.
   • 1885, Edwin Ray Lankester, Encyclopædia Britannica, volume vol. XIX. 854/1:

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

Derived terms

• endosporulate

Related terms

• sporulation

Etymology 2

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

Adjective

sporulate (not comparable)

1. (botany) That produces spores (Can we add an example for this sense?)

   Antonym: asporulate

Anagrams

• louse trap, sportulae