anemone

[ uh-nem-uh-nee ]

/ əˈnɛm əˌni /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR anemone ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

any of various plants belonging to the genus Anemone, of the buttercup family, having petallike sepals and including several wild species with white flowers as well as others cultivated for their showy flowers in a variety of colors.

sea anemone.

Nearby words

Origin of anemone

1545–55; < Latin < Greek: literally, daughter of the wind, equivalent to ánem(os) wind + -ōnē feminine patronymic suffix; see -one

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for anemone

Figures on their paintings are decked with crowns and garlands of anemone, acacia, convolvulus, and some others.
Catholic World, Vol. XIII, April to September, 1871|Various
The Anemone seems to have been a great favorite with Mrs. Hemans.
Flowers and Flower-Gardens|David Lester Richardson
Substitutions of this kind form the green "eyes" or centres of certain varieties of Ranunculus and Anemone.
Vegetable Teratology|Maxwell T. Masters
Now and then you find an anemone whose upper disc is contracted in a peculiar manner at opposite sides.
The Catholic World. Volume III; Numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.|E. Rameur

The anemone is always a solitary flower with many stamens, and its petals are of a more delicate texture.
The Wild Flowers of California: Their Names, Haunts, and Habits|Mary Elizabeth Parsons

British Dictionary definitions for anemone

anemone

/ (əˈnɛmənɪ) /

noun

any ranunculaceous woodland plant of the genus Anemone of N temperate regions, such as the white-flowered A. nemorosa (wood anemone or windflower). Some cultivated anemones have lilac, pale blue, pink, purple, or red flowersSee also pasqueflower Compare sea anemone

Word Origin for anemone

C16: via Latin from Greek: windflower, from anemos wind

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for anemone

anemone

flowering plant genus, 1550s, from Middle French anemone (16c.) and directly from Latin anemone, from Greek anemone "wind flower," literally "daughter of the wind," from anemos "wind" (cognate with Latin anima; see animus) + -one feminine patronymic suffix. According to Asa Gray, so called because it was thought to open only when the wind blows. Klein suggests the flower name perhaps originally is from Hebrew (cf. na'aman, in nit'e na'amanim, literally "plants of pleasantness," in Is. xvii:10, from na'em "was pleasant"). Applied to a type of sea creature (sea anemone) from 1773.