decumbent
Americanadjective
-
lying down; recumbent.
-
Botany. (of stems, branches, etc.) lying or trailing on the ground with the extremity tending to ascend.
adjective
-
lying down or lying flat
-
botany (of certain stems) lying flat with the tip growing upwards
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of decumbent
1635–45; < Latin dēcumbent- (stem of dēcumbēns ), present participle of dēcumbere. See decubitus, -ent
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.
Most arrived more or less by acceptable means, but the suburban affliction defined as "a grass with creeping or decumbent stems which root freely at the nodes" sneaked in.
From Time Magazine Archive
The root of the hoary, decumbent, and less elegant, but larger-flowered Hedysarum mackenzii is poisonous, and nearly killed an old Indian woman at Fort Simpson, who had mistaken it for that of the preceding species.
From "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer
Stems are tufted, erect or slightly decumbent at the base, 1 to 2 feet long.
From A Handbook of Some South Indian Grasses by Rangachari, K.
"A decumbent hairy form confined to the Lizard."
From Island Life Or the Phenomena and Causes of Insular Faunas and Floras by Wallace, Alfred Russel
Thallus decumbent, irregularly lobed, 1–2´ long, 3–5´´ wide; involucre none; pedicel ¾–1´ long, sometimes folded upon itself and remaining within the calyptra, the capsule thus appearing sessile; antheridia on elongated receptacles.—Wooded swamps.
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
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.
