nursery

noun

nurs·​ery ˈnər-s(ə-)rē 

plural nurseries

1

obsolete : attentive care : fosterage

2

a

: a child's bedroom

b

: a place where children are temporarily cared for in their parents' absence

c

: day nursery

3

a

: something that fosters, develops, or promotes

b

: a place in which persons are trained or educated

4

: an area where plants are grown for transplanting, for use as stocks for budding and grafting, or for sale

5

: a place where young animals grow or are cared for

Synonyms

• breeding ground
• hotbed
• hothouse
• nest
• nidus
• seedbed
• seminary

Examples of nursery in a Sentence

She still needs to decorate the nursery before the baby comes.

We get our flowers from a local nursery.

Recent Examples on the Web

Jennifer taught in the children’s ministry and assisted in the nursery, while Jeff served on the board of trustees. —Andrea May Sahouri, Detroit Free Press, 3 Jan. 2025

Your home office must be transformed into a nursery for a baby due next month. —Joshua Rothman, The New Yorker, 31 Dec. 2024

Their father said they were born one month premature and spent just a day in the nursery at the hospital, which like other Gaza health centers is overwhelmed and only partially functioning. —Compiled Bydemocrat-Gazette Stafffrom Wire Reports, arkansasonline.com, 30 Dec. 2024

Chae takes the opportunity of Season 2, however, to mature the series’ child nursery in The Bad Place aesthetic to showcase the Masked Guards operating the games at the behest of the Front Man (Lee Byung-hun) and finds ways for the games to bleed into Gi-hun’s life in Seoul, too. —Sarah Shachat, IndieWire, 28 Dec. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing nursery

• day nursery
• nursery rhyme
• nursery school
• nursery slope

Kids Definition

nursery

noun

nurs·​ery ˈnərs-(ə-)rē 

plural nurseries

1

a

: a child's bedroom

b

: a place where children are temporarily cared for in their parents' absence

2

: a place where plants (as trees or shrubs) are grown for transplanting, for use as stocks in grafting, or for sale

Medical Definition

nursery

noun

nurs·​ery ˈnərs-(ə-)rē 

plural nurseries

: the department of a hospital where newborn infants are cared for