lanceolate

American  

[lan-see-uh-leyt, -lit] / ˈlæn si əˌleɪt, -lɪt /

adjective

1. shaped like the head of a lance.

2. narrow, and tapering toward the apex or sometimes at the base, as a leaf.

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lanceolate British  

/ -lɪt, ˈlɑːnsɪəˌleɪt /

adjective

1. narrow and tapering to a point at each end

   lanceolate leaves

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lanceolate Scientific  

/ lăn′sē-ə-lāt′ /

1. Tapering from a rounded base toward an apex; lance-shaped. Many willows have lanceolate leaves.

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Other Word Forms

• lanceolately adverb
• sublanceolate adjective

Etymology

Origin of lanceolate

1750–60; < Latin lanceolātus armed with a small lance, equivalent to lanceol ( a ) small lance ( lance ( a ) lance ¹ + -ola -ole ¹ ) + -ātus -ate ¹

Example Sentences

The ears are far narrower than those of living rhinos – they’ve even been described as lanceolate in form.

From Scientific American • Nov. 9, 2013

Scales of the bell-shaped involucre lanceolate, equal, somewhat in 2 rows.

From The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States Including the District East of the Mississippi and North of North Carolina and Tennessee by Gray, Asa

A. Láppa, L. Stout, 1–3° high; leaves roundish or ovate and mostly cordate, or lanceolate with cuneate base, smooth above, somewhat floccose-tomentose beneath, mostly sinuate-denticulate.

From The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States Including the District East of the Mississippi and North of North Carolina and Tennessee by Gray, Asa

Glaucous, paniculately branched; leaves lanceolate, acute; flowers smaller and more scattered; seeds wingless.—Sparingly naturalized near New York.

From The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States Including the District East of the Mississippi and North of North Carolina and Tennessee by Gray, Asa

Perennial, slender, 1–2° high, the roots extensively creeping; leaves oblong or lanceolate, smooth, or slightly woolly beneath, sinuate-pinnatifid, prickly-margined; flowers rose-purple.

From The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States Including the District East of the Mississippi and North of North Carolina and Tennessee by Gray, Asa