Revegetate

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To bring back plant growth to a previously barren or disturbed land through careful restoration efforts or natural regeneration methods
2. The act of promoting the regrowth of flora in areas that have undergone environmental degradation or human activity
3. To cause new vegetation to grow on land that has lost its plant cover through natural processes or human assistance

Etymology: "Revegetate" is a plain formation: the prefix "re-", meaning "again" or "back to a former state," attached to "vegetate." That verb, which in English first meant to grow or sprout like a plant, comes from the Latin "vegetare," "to enliven," related to "vegetus," "lively, vigorous," and it reached English through the older sense of vegetation as the growth of plants. Put together, "revegetate" means to cover a bare or disturbed area with plants once again. Its most common setting is land damaged by fire, mining, construction or erosion, where people deliberately seed or plant it so that vegetation returns.

Synonyms: replant, restore, rehabilitate