How to Use dormancy in a Sentence

dormancy

noun
  • Bulbs have short stems, and fleshy leaves and go through a period of dormancy.
    Lauren David, Southern Living, 18 July 2024
  • Note that when dormancy ends, grass leaves that have turned brown won’t revive, but new leaves will appear.
    Lynn Coulter, Better Homes & Gardens, 14 Aug. 2024
  • While your lawn may look dead during drought, your grass's root systems are generally healthy and robust in dormancy.
    Megan Hughes, Better Homes & Gardens, 22 July 2024
  • In that sense, dormancy is a survival strategy for global catastrophes.
    Dan Samorodnitsky, Quanta Magazine, 5 June 2024
  • There were at least signs the lineup’s days of dormancy might be in the past.
    Nick Piecoro, azcentral, 30 May 2018
  • That’s because the warmer your home is, the more quickly the tree will break dormancy (start to grow).
    Tim Johnson, chicagotribune.com, 11 Dec. 2017
  • Maple trees and their shallow roots break their dormancy, and the sap will be ready to rise up.
    Susan Dietrich Hassler, Star Tribune, 3 Mar. 2021
  • Plants throughout the world use dormancy to get through bad times.
    Beth Botts, chicagotribune.com, 4 Oct. 2020
  • Early spring, before a tree or shrub breaks dormancy, is the best time to prune it.
    Bonnie Blodgett, Twin Cities, 1 Apr. 2017
  • At this stage in the game, wheat plants are out of dormancy and beginning to elongate.
    Angela Fritz, Washington Post, 3 May 2017
  • Then cut the plants back in the springtime to bring them back after their winter dormancy.
    Sheryl Geerts, Better Homes & Gardens, 17 July 2024
  • Scientists have long puzzled over what prompts the plants to switch from a state of dormancy and send up shoots.
    Jackson Landers, Smithsonian, 19 Jan. 2017
  • The production line of the 737 Max is back up and running after six months of dormancy.
    Washington Post, 7 July 2020
  • The Green Door got a new neighbor during its long dormancy.
    Joe Rubino, The Denver Post, 3 Oct. 2019
  • That is largely because of the landscape plants being in full dormancy at the time.
    Nancy Brachey, charlotteobserver, 12 Feb. 2018
  • During dormancy, stop watering, and place the plant in a cool, dark place.
    Arricca Elin Sansone, Country Living, 6 Feb. 2020
  • Plants that mistake a January thaw for spring may go so far as to break their dormancy and try to grow.
    Bonnie Blodgett, Twin Cities, 8 Dec. 2019
  • If Sony’s new date holds steady, that period of dormancy will have spanned just 25 months.
    J. Kim Murphy, Variety, 16 May 2024
  • Note that when dormancy ends, grass leaves that have turned brown won't revive, but new leaves will appear.
    Lynn Coulter, Better Homes & Gardens, 12 July 2021
  • Detail nerds will be pleased to know that the 901-specific leather shift boot survived the car’s long dormancy.
    Davey G. Johnson, Car and Driver, 14 Dec. 2017
  • The dormancy period, which may range from a few weeks to a few months, is part of the normal growing cycle.
    Arricca Elin Sansone, Country Living, 6 Feb. 2020
  • That one was present in the first eight bottles and fared less well, with few of its seeds growing after only 20 years of dormancy.
    Cara Giaimo New York, Star Tribune, 5 June 2021
  • Predictably, plants are starting to come out of their dormancy.
    Angela Fritz, Washington Post, 21 Feb. 2018
  • This will be your busiest time of year as your lawn heads out of dormancy into growing season.
    Arricca Elin Sansone, House Beautiful, 15 Apr. 2021
  • Choosing what point in the winter to prune can affect the point at which a vine awakens from dormancy, for instance.
    Esther Mobley, SFChronicle.com, 9 Aug. 2019
  • Onion sets are little bulbs that have been forced into dormancy and then are sold in packages at the nursery.
    Pam Peirce, SFChronicle.com, 13 Dec. 2019
  • Another is that zoysia goes into winter dormancy and turns straw brown for the better part of half the year.
    Washington Post, 7 July 2021
  • If the grant comes through, the city will ask the contractor to wait at least until October to prune, as the oak trees go into dormancy.
    Thomas Jewell, cleveland.com, 11 Aug. 2019
  • The pluripotency genes then returned to dormancy when the process was complete.
    Veronique Greenwood, BostonGlobe.com, 6 Sep. 2022
  • Once your amaryllis has broken dormancy, rotate the pot every day or so to keep the stem growing nice and straight.
    Arricca Elin Sansone, Country Living, 15 Oct. 2021

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'dormancy.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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