medrar

Compare Spanish medrar.

medrar

1. to grow, thrive

   Synonyms: crecer, espolletar, espoxigar

Attested since 1519. Probably borrowed from Spanish medrar.^[1] Doublet of mellorar.

• IPA^(key): /meˈðɾaɾ/

medrar (first-person singular present medro, first-person singular preterite medrei, past participle medrado)

1. to grow
   • 1519, X. Ferro Couselo, editor, A vida e a fala dos devanceiros. Escolma de documentos en galego dos séculos XIII ao XVI, Vigo: Galaxia, page 218:

     Una arqua medrada que lebará fasta oyto ou nobe fanegas de çenteo.

     A grown up ark that can contain some eight or nine fanegas (totaling ~500 l)

2. to thrive, prosper

• medra

• Xavier Varela Barreiro, Xavier Gómez Guinovart (2006–2018) “medr”, in Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “medrar”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• “medrar”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2025
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “medrar”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• “medrar” in Dicionário Estraviz de galego (2014).
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “medrar”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

Borrowed from Spanish medrar, from Latin meliōrāre.^[1] Doublet of melhorar.

• Hyphenation: me‧drar

medrar (first-person singular present medro, first-person singular preterite medrei, past participle medrado)

1. (ambitransitive) to grow

   Synonym: crescer

   • 1857, Charles Baudelaire, “O Inimigo”, in Delfim Guimarães, transl., As Flores do Mal, published 1924:

     Corre o tempo veloz, num galope desfeito, / E a Dor, a ingente Dor, que nos corrói o peito, / Com nosso próprio sangue, a crescer, a medrar!

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

• “medrar”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2025
• “medrar”, in Dicionário inFormal (in Portuguese), 2006–2025
• “medrar” in Dicionário Aberto based on Novo Diccionário da Língua Portuguesa de Cândido de Figueiredo, 1913
• “medrar”, in Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), São Paulo: Editora Melhoramentos, 2015–2025
• “medrar”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025

From *mejdrar, syncopation of mejorar.

• IPA^(key): /meˈdɾaɾ/ [meˈð̞ɾaɾ]
• Rhymes: -aɾ
• Syllabification: me‧drar

medrar (first-person singular present medro, first-person singular preterite medré, past participle medrado)

1. (intransitive, literary) to thrive, grow (said of plants or animals)

   Synonym: crecer

2. (intransitive, literary) to prosper, flourish

   Synonym: prosperar

   Se la llevaba además de historiador, detestando a los que medraban bajo el yugo de dictadores pasados.

   He pretended to be a historian too, detesting those who prospered under the yoke of past dictators.

   • 1924 – 1957, Ramón Menéndez Pidal, Poesía juglaresca y juglares. Orígenes de las literaturas románicas:

     La postrera reacción en favor del arte occitánico se produjo en el reinado de Alfonso X (1254-1284); el nuevo rey, con sus pretensiones al dominio de Gascuña y al imperio de Alemania, con su desmedida afición a toda clase de artistas, agradeció espléndidamente las alabanzas de los últimos trovadores provenzales, quienes medraron en Castilla mucho mejor que en la corte aragonesa.

     The later reaction in favour of the Occitan art was produced during the reign of Alfonso X (1254-1284). The new king, with his ambition to rule the territory of Gasconia and the German empire, and his unmetered passion for all kinds of artists, was splendidly grateful for the praises of these last Provençal troubadours, who flourished in Castile much better than at the Aragonese court.

• → Galician: medrar
• → Portuguese: medrar

• “medrar”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024