acacia

American  

[uh-key-shuh] / əˈkeɪ ʃə /

noun

1. a small tree or shrub belonging to the genus Acacia, of the mimosa family, having clusters of small yellow flowers.

2. any of several other plants, as the locust tree.

3. gum arabic.

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acacia British  

/ əˈkeɪʃə /

noun

1. any shrub or tree of the tropical and subtropical leguminous genus Acacia, having compound or reduced leaves and small yellow or white flowers in dense inflorescences See also wattle 1

2. another name for locust locust

3. another name for gum arabic

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Etymology

Origin of acacia

1535–45; < Latin < Greek akakía Egyptian thorn

Example Sentences

Vast stretches of a once-verdant acacia forest south of Sudan's capital Khartoum have been reduced to little more than fields of stumps as nearly three years of conflict have fuelled deforestation.

From Barron's

Common examples include species of acacia, eucalyptus, poplar, and pine.

From Science Daily

In the oldest known writing in Marathi, a language spoken by millions in western and central India, a 13th-century religious leader named Cakradhara points to an acacia tree as a symbol of death and rebirth.

From Science Daily

These 4,600-year-old funerary boats, made of cedar and acacia, were intended to transport the king into the afterlife.

From Barron's

Elephants around Lake Manyara in Tanzania were killing acacia trees by ripping off bark and leaving “pale ghostly white trunks.”

From The Wall Street Journal