clover
Americannoun
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clovers,
plural
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clover
plural
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any of various plants of the genus Trifolium, of the legume family, having trifoliolate leaves and dense flower heads, many species of which, as T. pratense, are cultivated as forage plants.
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any of various plants of allied genera, as melilot.
idioms
noun
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any plant of the leguminous genus Trifolium, having trifoliate leaves and dense flower heads. Many species, such as red clover, white clover, and alsike, are grown as forage plants
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any of various similar or related plants
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another name for melilot
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another name for alfilaria
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informal in a state of ease or luxury
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of clover
before 900; Middle English clovere, Old English clāfre; akin to German Klee
Compare meaning
How does clover compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
A clover is a small plant with bright green leaves and white or purple flowers. It's considered good luck to find a four-leaf clover! Most clover features clusters of three rounded leaves, and very rarely there are four. Because it's so uncommon to find a four-leaf clover, it's become a symbol of luck. And just imagine how lucky the even rarer five- and six-leaf clovers are! The clover plant produces pretty little flowers, and while it's sometimes considered a weed, it's also commonly included in grassy lawns for its bright color and heartiness.
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:
Also blooming now: goldfields, purple grape soda lupine and owl’s clover.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 26, 2026
He also had a tattoo on his right arm which said "nan" along with a clover and the colours of the Irish flag.
From BBC ● Mar. 15, 2026
The dead are placed in a sealed vessel bedded with clover, hay and straw and equipped to regulate airflow, temperature and moisture.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 3, 2026
A small group of plants, including peas, clover, and beans, can grow without added nitrogen.
From Science Daily ● Dec. 9, 2025
Bulls which had always been tractable suddenly turned savage, sheep broke down hedges and devoured the clover, cows kicked the pail over, hunters refused their fences and shot their riders on to the other side.
From "Animal Farm: A Fairy Story" by George Orwell
Anyone stuck in a knotted snarl of interstate clovers knows that GPS is both important and imperfect.
From Slate ● Dec. 1, 2024
Although the strands are brown and parched, tiny sprinkles of weeds and clovers blend in with the decaying grass and present an illusion of a semi-green lawn.
From BBC ● Sep. 6, 2023
There's the thistle, the national flower of Scotland; clovers, a symbol of Northern Ireland; yellow daffodils, the national flower of Wales; and the Tudor Rose, the national flower of England.
From Salon ● Apr. 5, 2023
When combined with wildflowers and clovers, “you start to have a lawn that can take some traffic, but you’re not going to be out playing football or letting your giant dogs run over it constantly.”
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 17, 2023
He went on with his ball-juggling, scowling with concentration—knee, foot, head, foot—while I sat there picking away at clovers and gazing at the woods in the distance that we’d once been so frightened of.
From "Never Let Me Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro
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.
