caducous
Americanadjective
-
Botany. dropping off very early, as leaves.
-
Zoology. subject to shedding.
adjective
Etymology
Origin of caducous
First recorded in 1675–85 for obsolete sense; 1805–10 for current senses; from Latin cadūcus “unsteady, perishable,” equivalent to cad(ere) “to fall” + -ūcus adjective suffix ( see -ous)
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.
They invariably come laden with words that seem meant to prove his vocabulary is bigger than yours: flocculent, crapulent, caducous, anaglypta, mephitic, velutinous.
From New York Times • Oct. 1, 2020
Sepals 3–5, usually 4, concave, petal-like, very caducous.
From The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States Including the District East of the Mississippi and North of North Carolina and Tennessee by Gray, Asa
Botanical Description.—A slender, twining plant with leaves 3′ by 1′, opposite, oval, acute, entire, long petioles and caducous stipules.
From The Medicinal Plants of the Philippines by Thomas, Jerome Beers
Embryo recurved.—Trees with milky juice, alternate entire pinnately veined leaves, caducous stipules, axillary peduncles, and stout axillary spines.
From The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States Including the District East of the Mississippi and North of North Carolina and Tennessee by Gray, Asa
Sepals.—Three; strongly arched, covered with bristly appressed hairs; caducous.
From The Wild Flowers of California: Their Names, Haunts, and Habits by Parsons, Mary Elizabeth
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.
