transplant
gb/tɹˈænsplænt/ us/tɹˈænsplænt/
B1
English
~ 5300
Senses
0 senses
Verb
technical
C1
action
1
surgically move an organ or tissue
to do an operation in which a doctor takes an organ or tissue from one body and puts it into another body
Usage pattern:
to transplant [organ/tissue] into [someone/something]
Common mistake:
Learners sometimes confuse "transplant" with "transport" or "transfer". "Transplant" is used for living organs or tissues (and sometimes plants), not for moving general objects. Also, say "transplant a heart into a patient", not "transplant a heart to a patient" in medical English.
Synonyms
graft (A more technical medical term, often used especially for skin or small pieces of tissue rather than whole organs.)
|
implant (Emphasizes putting something into the body, often an artificial device, not always taken from another body.)
Antonyms
remove (Describes taking an organ or tissue out of the body without putting another one in its place.)
Collocations
transplant a heart
|transplant a kidney
|transplant an organ
|transplant bone marrow
|transplant tissue
Themes
medicine
|health
|science
|body
Examples
- Surgeons successfully transplanted a donor heart into the patient after a six-hour operation.
- The hospital team plans to transplant a new kidney into her next week.
- Doctors were able to transplant healthy bone marrow to treat his leukemia.
- Scientists are working to transplant lab-grown tissue into damaged organs.
- They hope to transplant stem cells to repair the injured spinal cord.
Learner examples
- Doctors transplanted a new heart into the man.
- The hospital will transplant a kidney from his brother.
- They transplanted healthy bone marrow into the sick child.
- The surgeon is trained to transplant organs.
- The team worked all night to transplant the liver.
Noun
technical
B2
event
2
operation to move an organ
a medical operation in which a doctor takes an organ or tissue from one body and puts it into another body
Usage pattern:
a [organ] transplant
Common mistake:
Learners sometimes say "make a transplant" instead of "have a transplant" or "undergo a transplant". Use verbs like "have", "need", "receive", or "undergo" with this noun.
Synonyms
transplantation (A more formal, technical term often used in medical writing and research.)
|
graft (Can refer to the operation, but more often to the tissue itself; slightly more technical.)
Antonyms
removal (Refers to surgery where something is taken out of the body without replacing it with a donor organ.)
Collocations
heart transplant
|kidney transplant
|organ transplant
|liver transplant
|transplant surgery
|undergo a transplant
Themes
medicine
|health
|science
Examples
- He is on the waiting list for a heart transplant.
- After the liver transplant, she needed strong drugs to prevent rejection.
- The hospital performs more than 200 kidney transplants each year.
- Her life was saved by a bone marrow transplant from her brother.
- They are raising money to help cover the cost of his transplant.
Learner examples
- He needs a kidney transplant to live.
- She had a heart transplant last year.
- The doctor said the transplant was successful.
- He is waiting for a liver transplant.
- After the transplant, she stayed in the hospital for two weeks.
Noun
technical
C1
entity
3
organ or tissue that was moved
an organ or tissue that has been taken from one body and put into another body
Usage pattern:
the transplant [verb]
Common mistake:
Learners may confuse this with the operation itself. "Transplant" here is the organ or tissue, while the "transplant" operation is the surgery. Context and verbs like "reject" or "accept" usually show it is the organ.
Synonyms
graft (A technical term often used for transplanted tissue; common in medical contexts.)
Antonyms
native organ (Refers to the organ someone is born with, as opposed to one that has been transplanted.)
Collocations
reject the transplant
|accept the transplant
|healthy transplant
|the transplant failed
|the body attacks the transplant
Themes
medicine
|health
|science
|body
Examples
- The patient's body began to reject the transplant after a few days.
- Doctors monitored the transplant closely for signs of infection.
- The transplant appears healthy and is functioning normally.
- Without strong medication, the immune system would attack the transplant.
- The team decided to remove the failing transplant.
Learner examples
- The body sometimes rejects the transplant.
- The doctor checks the transplant every week.
- The transplant is working well now.
- They are afraid the transplant may fail.
- The transplant must stay healthy for many years.
Verb
B1
action
4
move a plant to new soil
to take a growing plant out of the ground or a pot and put it in another place to grow
Usage pattern:
to transplant [a plant] to [a place]
Common mistake:
Learners sometimes use "plant" instead of "transplant" when the plant is already growing somewhere. Use "transplant" when you move a living plant and plant it again.
Synonyms
replant (Very close in meaning, but "replant" is slightly more general and not always about moving an established plant.)
|
move (A more general verb; does not specifically mean taking a plant and putting it in the ground again.)
Antonyms
uproot (Means to pull a plant out of the ground, often without putting it somewhere else to grow.)
Collocations
transplant seedlings
|transplant a tree
|transplant roses
|carefully transplant
|transplant into the garden
Themes
gardening
|nature
|daily life
|daily_life
Examples
- You should transplant the seedlings outdoors after the last frost.
- We transplanted the young tree to a sunnier spot in the yard.
- Gardeners recommend transplanting tomatoes once they have several true leaves.
- She carefully transplanted the flowers into larger pots.
- The bushes were transplanted from the old house to the new garden.
Learner examples
- I will transplant these flowers to the garden.
- He transplanted the small tree to the front yard.
- We need to transplant the plants into bigger pots.
- They transplanted the tomato plants last weekend.
- She carefully transplanted the rose bush.
Noun
B2
entity
5
plant moved and replanted
a plant that was taken out of the ground or a pot and put in another place to grow
Usage pattern:
a [adjective] transplant
Common mistake:
Learners may think "transplant" here means the action, not the plant. When you see plural forms like "transplants" in gardening, it usually refers to individual plants.
Synonyms
replanted plant (A descriptive phrase; less technical but clearly shows the plant was planted again.)
Antonyms
established plant (Refers to a plant that has grown in the same place for a long time and is well rooted.)
Collocations
healthy transplants
|tomato transplants
|new transplants
|harden off transplants
|nursery transplants
Themes
gardening
|nature
|daily_life
Examples
- Water the transplants every day until their roots are established.
- These tomato transplants will be ready for sale next week.
- Gardeners should protect young transplants from strong wind and sun.
- The nursery sells pepper transplants in early spring.
- Some transplants wilted because they were moved too early.
Learner examples
- The new transplants need a lot of water.
- These tomato transplants came from the garden store.
- Young transplants can die in cold weather.
- We put the transplants in the garden in May.
- The transplants grew fast in the warm sun.
Noun
B2
entity
6
person who moved to new place
a person who used to live in one place but now lives in a different place
Usage pattern:
a [place] transplant
Common mistake:
Learners may think this meaning is always medical. In everyday conversation, "transplant" can refer to a person who has moved, especially when used with a place name, like "a London transplant".
Synonyms
newcomer (Focuses on being new to a place, not necessarily on where the person came from.)
|
migrant (More formal and often used about moving for work or safety, sometimes across countries.)
Antonyms
local (Someone who was born in, or has long lived in, a place, unlike a transplant.)
|
native (Emphasizes being originally from that place, not having moved there from somewhere else.)
Collocations
a New York transplant
|a recent transplant
|Californian transplant
|city transplant
|Midwestern transplant
Themes
society
|migration
|identity
|travel
|relationships
|core_vocabulary
Examples
- She’s a New York transplant who now calls Los Angeles home.
- As a recent transplant, he’s still getting used to the local weather.
- The city is full of transplants from smaller towns.
- As a Midwestern transplant, he misses cold winters and snow.
- Transplants often bring new ideas and energy to the community.
Learner examples
- He is a Boston transplant living in Chicago.
- As a transplant, she does not know many people yet.
- The neighborhood has many transplants from other states.
- I am a transplant, so I still learn about this city.
- Transplants sometimes feel lonely in a new place.
Verb
C1
action
7
move and resettle people or ideas
to take a person, group, system, or idea from one place and start it or keep it in another place
Usage pattern:
to transplant [someone/something] to [a place/context]
Common mistake:
Learners may think this verb is only used in medical or gardening contexts. In more abstract or social contexts, it can also mean moving people, systems, or ideas to a new place or situation.
Synonyms
relocate (Commonly used with people or businesses; slightly more formal and does not suggest the idea of "taking root" in the new place.)
|
import (Often used for ideas or practices brought from another place, but does not focus on moving people.)
Antonyms
retain (Means to keep people, systems, or ideas in their original place or context instead of moving them.)
|
keep (A simple, general verb meaning not to move or change the place of something.)
Collocations
transplant a tradition
|transplant a culture
|transplant a legal system
|transplant a model
|transplant families to the city
Themes
society
|culture
|business
|travel
|communication
|core_vocabulary
Examples
- The company decided to transplant its headquarters to a more business-friendly city.
- Many rural families were transplanted to urban housing projects in the 1960s.
- It is difficult to transplant legal systems from one culture to another.
- They tried to transplant European teaching methods into local schools.
- The novel describes a community transplanted from the countryside to a foreign land.
Learner examples
- The government transplanted many families to the new town.
- The school tried to transplant this program to other countries.
- It is hard to transplant old traditions into a modern city.
- The company transplanted its main office to another country.
- Many workers were transplanted from small towns to the capital.
Grammar
Dictionary form
transplant
IPA
GB/tɹˈænsplænt/
US/tɹˈænsplænt/
Syllables & stress
trans - plant (2 syllables)
Stress on 1st syllable (trans)
Word forms
Noun
- Base: transplant
- Plural: transplants
Verb
- Base: transplant
- 3rd Person Singular: transplants
- Present Participle: transplanting
- Past: transplanted
Word family
Forms
transplants
noun
transplanting
verb
transplanted
verb
Core family
transplantation
noun C1
Related words
transplanter
noun
Advanced or less common
transplantable
adjective
Expressions
heart transplant
1/hˈɑɹt tɹˈænsplænt/
fixed phrase
technical
operation to replace a heart
a medical operation in which a sick heart is taken out and a healthy heart from another person is put in
Examples
- He had a heart transplant when he was only ten years old.
- The hospital performed its first heart transplant in 1995.
- After the heart transplant, she needed months of recovery.
liver transplant
1/lˈɪvɚ tɹˈænsplænt/
fixed phrase
technical
operation to replace a liver
a medical operation in which a sick liver is removed and a healthy liver from a donor is put in
Examples
- He will need a liver transplant within the next year.
- Liver transplant is often the last option for severe liver disease.
- The hospital specializes in pediatric liver transplant.
lung transplant
1/lˈʌŋ tɹˈænsplænt/
fixed phrase
technical
operation to replace lung(s)
a medical operation in which a sick lung or both lungs are removed and healthy lungs from a donor are put in
Examples
- Because of her condition, she may eventually need a lung transplant.
- Lung transplant can greatly improve the quality of life for some patients.
- The clinic is known worldwide for its lung transplant program.
kidney transplant
1/kˈɪdni tɹˈænsplænt/
fixed phrase
operation to replace a kidney
A medical operation in which a sick kidney is removed and a healthy kidney from another person is put into the body.
Examples
- After years on dialysis, she finally received a kidney transplant.
- The hospital has one of the best kidney transplant programs in the country.
kidney transplant
2/kˈɪdni tɹˈænsplænt/
fixed phrase
technical
operation to replace a kidney
a medical operation in which a sick kidney is taken out or left in place and a healthy kidney from another person is put in
Examples
- She is recovering well after her kidney transplant.
- Many patients with kidney failure hope for a kidney transplant.
- The charity supports children who need a kidney transplant.
organ transplant
1/ˈɔɹɡən tɹˈænsplænt/
fixed phrase
technical
operation to replace an organ
A medical operation where a sick or damaged organ is taken out of a person’s body and a healthy one is put in.
Examples
- Advances in organ transplant have saved thousands of lives.
- She is waiting for an organ transplant to save her life.
- She is on a waiting list for an organ transplant.
- Advances in surgery have made organ transplants much safer.
- The hospital is a leading center for organ transplant.
- The charity raises money to support children who need organ transplants.