tumbleweed

American  

[tuhm-buhl-weed] / ˈtʌm bəlˌwid /

noun

• tumbleweeds
  plural

1. any of various plants, as Amaranthus albus, A. graecizans, or the Russian thistle, Salsola kali, whose branching upper parts become detached from the roots and are driven about by the wind.

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tumbleweed British  

/ ˈtʌmbəlˌwiːd /

noun

1. any densely branched plant that breaks off near the ground on withering and is rolled about by the wind, esp one of several amaranths of the western US and Australia

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• tumbleweeds
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of tumbleweed

An Americanism dating back to 1885–90; tumble + weed ¹

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

tumbleweed tumbleweeds

In a spot that AT&T introduced in October, actor Luke Wilson pulls a newspaper out of a tumbleweed and reads, “T-Mobile most challenged for deceptive ads.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 14, 2025

Now it has transformed itself into tumbleweed proper, sidling and bouncing wherever the wind chooses.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 17, 2025

Rust depicts the manhunt for grandfather and grandson amidst a backdrop of snow-capped mountains and tumbleweed dirt towns.

From BBC ● Nov. 20, 2024

A lone tumbleweed blows through piles of coal at the Rosebud Mine outside Colstrip, a few miles from the power plant.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 16, 2024

Near it a dozen graves were outlined in the sand with small stones, and a barbed-wire fence surrounded them to keep back the cattle and the tumbleweed.

From "Farewell to Manzanar" by Jeanne Houston

Affidavits from five Cuban men described being forced onto buses on several occasions and driven to Santa Teresa, N.M., a remote, one-lane border crossing where tumbleweeds pile up against an 18-foot-tall border wall.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 14, 2026

In 2014, mini-storms of tumbleweeds swamped the drought-stricken prairie of southern Colorado, blocking rural roads and irrigation canals, and briefly barricading homes and an elementary school.

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 5, 2024

But for researchers like Kainz and CU Boulder geologist Lon Abbott, the High Plains that extend over much of eastern Colorado -- the territory of tumbleweeds and prairie dogs -- may be even more interesting.

From Science Daily ● Mar. 4, 2024

But Feldman said that attendance at the festival has already reached 30,000 — an incredible feat when tumbleweeds seem to be blowing across the Music Center.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 5, 2023

Trash trundled past like tumbleweeds in old Western movies.

From "Shadowshaper" by Daniel José Older

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