prune

CEFRB2

/pɹuːn/

verb · noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    verb

    To cut away unwanted parts of a plant or tree.

  2. 02

    noun

    A dried plum.

Examples

  • I can't prune this tree. It's too tall.

  • I cannot prune this tree. It's too high.

At a glance

Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
5
Synonyms
1

Also pronounced

  • /pɹun/
  • /pɹʉːn/

Deep Dive

verb

Extra meanings

  1. Something wrinkly like a prune.

  2. The dried, wrinkled fruit of certain species of plum.

noun

Extra meaning

  1. An old woman, especially a wrinkly one.

More examples

In context

  • A good grape grower will prune the vines once a year.

  • to prune a budget, or an essay

  • I hardly left that spot in my pool that month even when my fingers pruned and chlorine dried out my skin.

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The gardener will carefully blank the overgrown bushes to encourage new growth in spring.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

verb

From Middle English prune, from Old French prune, from Vulgar Latin *prūna, feminine singular formed from the neutral plural of Latin prūnum, from Ancient Greek προῦνον (proûnon), variant of προῦμνον (proûmnon, “plum”), a loanword from a language of Asia Minor. Doublet of plum.