What Does It Mean 'To Mushroom'? - March 13, 2025

0:01And now, words and their stories, from VOA Learning English. Mushrooms are a popular food in many parts of the world. Some people even like to go out into the woods or forest to pick wild mushrooms. They know which ones to eat and where they grow. Mushrooms grow very quickly, often overnight. Dark, wet areas in the forest might be without mushrooms one day and filled with fungi by the next day. The mushrooms have sprung up overnight. To spring up means to appear or develop suddenly or quickly. So we can compare things that grow fast or increase suddenly to springing up like mushrooms. For example, because there are many online streaming platforms, new programs are springing up like mushrooms.

1:24We can also use mushroom as a verb, meaning to grow or expand widely and over a short period of time. For example schools in the city improved greatly, and the number of parks increased as well. So the number of families moving to the area mushroomed in recent years. Good things and bad things can develop quickly. If a problem or issue gets bigger very quickly, we can say it mushroomed. We can even say something has mushroomed out of control. For example, paying your bills on time and keeping track of your spending will prevent money problems from mushrooming out of control. We can also use mushroom as a phrasal verb. If something mushrooms into something else, it changes very quickly. For example, I had planned a simple picnic lunch with two friends, but after they invited

2:41more people, it mushroomed into a much bigger party with lots of great food. Here is another example. What began as small edits to my story mushroomed into a complete rewrite. And that's the end of Words and Their Stories. Until next time, I'm Ana Mateo.