carrot

/ˈkɛrət/

/ˈkærət/

Other forms: carrots

A carrot is a long, orange root vegetable. Carrots can be planted as tiny seeds and grown in a backyard garden.

Carrots are a popular vegetable to eat raw on their own, or chopped and tossed in a salad. You can also cook carrots, or grate them and make a carrot cake. You might also use the word carrot to mean an implied reward, especially in the phrase "carrot and stick," which comes from the idea of enticing a donkey or mule forward with a carrot, or punishing it for not moving by hitting it with a stick.

Definitions of carrot

1. noun

   perennial plant widely cultivated as an annual in many varieties for its long conical orange edible roots; temperate and tropical regions
   synonyms: Daucus carota sativa, cultivated carrot

   type of:

   herb, herbaceous plant

   a plant lacking a permanent woody stem; many are flowering garden plants or potherbs; some having medicinal properties; some are pests
2. noun

   deep orange edible root of the cultivated carrot plant
   type of:

   root

   (botany) the usually underground organ that lacks buds or leaves or nodes; absorbs water and mineral salts; usually it anchors the plant to the ground
3. noun

   orange root; important source of carotene
   type of:

   root vegetable

   any of various fleshy edible underground roots or tubers
4. noun

   promise of reward as in "carrot and stick"
   “used the carrot of subsidized housing for the workers to get their vote”

   type of:

   reinforcement, reward

   an act performed to strengthen approved behavior