Link Centre Dictionary

pullulate

pul·lu·late

UK/ˈpʌl.jʊ.leɪt/ uncommon

verb

1.

be teeming, be abuzz

  • “The garden was swarming with bees”
  • “The plaza is teeming with undercover policemen”
  • “her mind pullulated with worries”
Synonyms
2.

move in large numbers

  • “people were pouring out of the theater”
  • “beggars pullulated in the plaza”
3.

produce buds, branches, or germinate

  • “the potatoes sprouted”

Origin

Borrowed from Latin pullulātus, perfect passive participle of pullulō (“sprout forth”), from pullulus (“a young animal, a sprout”), diminutive of pullus.

Related words

Narrower terms

See also

Related verbs

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.