plant a seed

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

Introduce an idea to influence someone's thoughts

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

giới thiệu một ý tưởng để ảnh hưởng đến suy nghĩ của ai đó

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: put a seed in the ground
Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

She planted a seed of doubt in his mind about the new policy

AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)

Sources & notes

Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.

Common questions

What does “plant a seed” mean?

Introduce an idea to influence someone's thoughts Literally: put a seed in the ground

Is “plant a seed” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.