Herman Wouk
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Burgeon arrived in Middle English as burjonen, a borrowing from the Anglo-French verb burjuner, meaning "to bud or sprout." Burgeon is often used figuratively, as when writer Ta-Nehisi Coates used it in his 2008 memoir The Beautiful Struggle: "… I was in the burgeoning class of kids whose families made too much for financial aid but not enough to make tuition payments anything less than a war." Usage commentators have objected to the use of burgeon to mean "to flourish" or "to grow rapidly," insisting that any figurative use should stay true to the word's earliest literal meaning and distinguish budding or sprouting from subsequent growing. But the sense of burgeon that indicates growing or expanding and prospering (as in "the burgeoning music scene" or "the burgeoning international market") has been in established use for decades and is, in fact, the most common use of burgeon today.
Examples of burgeon in a Sentence
Robert Hormats,
Time,
4 July 2026
India's burgeoning eVTOL industry has seen major advancements, investment, and partnerships taking place over the last few years.
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New Atlas,
3 July 2026
Due to postwar prosperity and changes in pool-construction technology, private pools were no longer considered luxuries but within reach of the burgeoning middle-class.
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Martha Ross,
Mercury News,
3 July 2026
While still in high school, the burgeoning creative co-founded the Material Girl clothing line with her mother.
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Bailey Bujnosek,
InStyle,
2 July 2026
See All Example Sentences for burgeon
Cite this Entry
“Burgeon.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/burgeon. Accessed 6 Jul. 2026.
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burgeon
verb
