cernuous
Origin of cernuous
Words nearby cernuous
MORE ABOUT CERNUOUS
What does cernuous mean?
Cernuous means drooping or nodding, as with the flower on a plant.
In botany, cernuous describes a plant or flower that is drooping or nodding. Some plants, like the bleeding heart, are naturally cernuous. The bleeding heart hangs by its own weight and grows healthily as a result. Other plants, like hyacinths, are meant to grow straight up. If hyacinths become cernuous, they are wilting or dying.
Example: Your persimmons are cernuous because they are not getting enough water.
Where does cernuous come from?
The first records of the term cernuous come from around the 1640s. It comes from the Latin cernuus, meaning “falling downward,” or “face down.”
Cernuous is sometimes used outside of botany to describe things that droop or hang, such as a person when they are slouching or sad. The term is also sometimes used in architecture or engineering to describe something that is leaning forward in order to achieve a visual or technical benefit.
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How is cernuous used in real life?
Cernuous is an uncommon term used mostly by botanists and home gardeners who are very serious about the science and upkeep of their plants.
lamentations are my flesh, oceans of cernuous violets and irises are my heart; in this dream i wade through meadows of asphodel, each of their goblets pouring over with divine milk, each of my ankles wet with the tears of broken stars.
— ✧ noelle (@deuspuella) February 13, 2020
A ripe knot in the gnarled web of the cernuous primordial. Plucked tightly, reverberating like time through great wooded copse.
— Luna Arcana (@lunaarcana1) May 19, 2021
Todays #stickoftheday is a bifurcated, cernuous piece of Tulip Poplar. Leggiadrous and concolor, its appearance was as lovely as its sapor. Nectary and sauveolent and tasting subtly of pear and flowers, a lovely spring refreshment pic.twitter.com/S2srsrFEyh
— Rex the TV Terrier ® (@rexthetvterrier) April 20, 2021
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Try using cernuous!
Is cernuous used correctly in the following sentence?
“My garden is full of cernuous plants, all straight and tall.”
How to use cernuous in a sentence
The stipe is usually white above, fuscous below, at the apex almost evanescent; hence the cernuous sporangia.
The North American Slime-Moulds|Thomas H. (Thomas Huston) MacBride