reticulate
Americanadjective
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netted; covered with a network.
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Botany. having the veins or nerves disposed like the threads of a net.
verb (used with object)
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to form into a network.
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to cover or mark with a network.
verb (used without object)
adjective
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in the form of a network or having a network of parts
a reticulate leaf
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resembling, covered with, or having the form of a net
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of reticulate
1650–60; < Latin rēticulātus net-like, equivalent to rēticul ( um ) reticle + -ātus -ate 1
Explanation
To reticulate is to form a type of net or network. Reticulating is an activity that creates a net or network. Linking a group of computers into a shared network reticulates them. A spider spinning a web is doing a form of reticulating. A businessperson making connections with many colleagues is reticulating by creating a social network with them. The key to any form of reticulating is that it makes connections: it links people or things in a type of net.
Vocabulary lists containing reticulate
"The Deep," Vocabulary from the short story
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Vocabulary from Readings 1, Unit 4
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
"For decades, the question of how reticulate veins form has remained open, and finally we have a plausible answer" in Chinese money plants' Voronoi patterns.
From Science Daily ● May 14, 2026
Monocots have leaves with parallel venation and dicot leaves have reticulate, net-like venation.
From Textbooks ● Jun. 9, 2022
A leaf has parallel venation whereas leaflets show reticulate venation.
From Textbooks ● Jun. 9, 2022
Monocots have leaves with reticulate, net-like venation and dicot leaves have parallel venation.
From Textbooks ● Jun. 9, 2022
He called this new discovery P. atrum, "beautifully reticulate", he says "like P. cinereum but larger."
From The North American Slime-Moulds A Descriptive List of All Species of Myxomycetes Hitherto Reported from the Continent of North America, with Notes on Some Extra-Limital Species by Thomas H. (Thomas Huston) MacBride
The African habitat - which was built in 2001 - is home to reticulated giraffes, maneless zebra, white rhino, ostrich, crowned crane and a greater kudu.
From BBC ● Jan. 10, 2025
On Thursday, the Great Plains Zoo and Butterfly House & Aquarium in Sioux Falls announced the death of Chioke, an 18-year-old reticulated giraffe.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 4, 2024
Genetic studies have found that giraffe DNA falls into four distinct clusters: the Northern giraffe, the reticulated giraffe, the Masai giraffe and the Southern giraffe.
From New York Times ● Feb. 19, 2024
However, such incidents have only been reliably documented in Asia, and with snakes known as reticulated pythons.
From National Geographic ● Feb. 16, 2024
He had no idea why he’d become a reticulated python, but it did explain his dream about slowly swallowing a cow.
From "The House of Hades" by Rick Riordan
Cardono's keen black eyes, twinkling hither and thither, a myriad crows' feet reticulating out from their corners like spiders' webs, took in the landscape, and every object in it.
From The Firebrand by S. R. (Samuel Rutherford) Crockett
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