dandelion
Americannoun
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dandelions
plural
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a weedy composite plant, Taraxacum officinale, having edible, deeply toothed or notched leaves, golden-yellow flowers, and rounded clusters of white, hairy seeds.
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any other plant of the genus Taraxacum.
noun
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a plant, Taraxacum officinale, native to Europe and Asia and naturalized as a weed in North America, having yellow rayed flowers and deeply notched basal leaves, which are used for salad or wine: family Asteraceae (composites)
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any of several similar related plants
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of dandelion
1505–15; < Middle French, alteration of dent de lion, literally, tooth of (a) lion, translation of Medieval Latin dēns leōnis, in allusion to the toothed leaves
Explanation
A dandelion is a plant with bright yellow flowers that's considered a weed by many people. Others enjoy adding bitter dandelion greens to their salads. While some lawn enthusiasts see dandelions as an enemy to be eradicated, they are actually in the daisy family and arguably just as pretty. After blooming, the flowers transition to seed, resulting in soft, round seed heads that you can blow into the air while making a wish. Historians believe that dandelions were brought to North America on the Mayflower and were valued for their medicinal and nutritional properties.
Vocabulary lists containing dandelion
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:
Expect desert sunflowers, gold poppy, dandelion and a number of other small, low-to-the-ground flowers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 17, 2026
A sea of yellow—ocher, dandelion, goldenrod—seems to support a single tree backed by a dark vacuum, but as our eyes adjust, we realize a barn in deepest alizarin crimson dominates the scene.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 31, 2025
Leafy greens and herbs: arugula, spinach, beet greens, mustard greens, radish tops, kale, dandelion, nasturtiums, fennel fronds, nettles, lovage, microgreens.
From Salon ● Apr. 25, 2025
In 2021, Ms Nicholson decided to "take back control" by getting a tattoo of a dandelion clock in the place her alopecia first began- to represent her hair "flying away".
From BBC ● Aug. 2, 2024
I signed my letter, rolled it up, tied it to a piece of wood, placed a dandelion on top, and floated it in a stream that flows into the Swat River.
From "Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Changed the World" by Malala Yousafzai
If weekend warriors can’t slay zombies on a dystopian battlefield, at least they can massacre dandelions in their backyards.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026
Also on the vest, under a slate-gray sky where many men brought together in mourning wore hoodies and woollen caps, lay two dandelions and some flower petals.
From Barron's ● Jan. 22, 2026
In her home state of Kentucky, they pop up like dandelions.
From Salon ● Dec. 6, 2024
Its subject matter — a blooming iris, dandelions, birch trees — did not seem controversial.
From New York Times ● Apr. 28, 2024
Beyond the gate, leaves and dandelions lined a long grassless swatch of ground all the way to a dilapidated old house.
From "Moon Over Manifest" by Clare Vanderpool
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
