divaricate

American  

[dahy-var-i-keyt, dih-, dahy-var-uh-kit, -keyt, dih-] / daɪˈvær ɪˌkeɪt, dɪ-, daɪˈvær ə kɪt, -ˌkeɪt, dɪ- /

verb (used without object)

divaricated, divaricating

1. to spread apart; branch; diverge.

2. Botany, Zoology. to branch at a wide angle.

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adjective

1. spread apart; widely divergent.

2. Botany, Zoology. branching at a wide angle.

divaricate British  

verb

1. (intr) (esp of branches) to diverge at a wide angle

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adjective

1. branching widely; forked

Other Word Forms

• divarication
  noun
• divaricator
  noun
• divaricately
  adverb
• divaricatingly
  adverb

Etymology

Origin of divaricate

1615–25; < Latin dīvāricātus (past participle of dīvāricāre ), equivalent to dī di- ² + vāric- (base of vāricāre to straddle; see prevaricate) + -ātus -ate ¹

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

divaricate divaricated divaricating

Colour greyish brown; polypidom 4 to five inches high, much branched, branches irregular, divaricate, rising in great numbers almost immediately from the mass of radical fibres.

From Narrative of the Voyage of H.M.S. Rattlesnake, Commanded By the Late Captain Owen Stanley, R.N., F.R.S. Etc. During the Years 1846-1850. Including Discoveries and Surveys in New Guinea, the Louisiade Archipelago, Etc. to Which Is Added the Account of Mr. E.B. Kennedy's Expedition for the Exploration of the Cape York Peninsula. By John Macgillivray, F.R.G.S. Naturalist to the Expedition. — Volume 1 by MacGillivray, John

Parasitic upon Polyzoa, etc. circinate branched--branches irregular divaricate.

From Narrative of the Voyage of H.M.S. Rattlesnake, Commanded By the Late Captain Owen Stanley, R.N., F.R.S. Etc. During the Years 1846-1850. Including Discoveries and Surveys in New Guinea, the Louisiade Archipelago, Etc. to Which Is Added the Account of Mr. E.B. Kennedy's Expedition for the Exploration of the Cape York Peninsula. By John Macgillivray, F.R.G.S. Naturalist to the Expedition. — Volume 1 by MacGillivray, John

Stems or branches pinnate: pinnae or branches alternate, straight, divaricate.

From Narrative of the Voyage of H.M.S. Rattlesnake, Commanded By the Late Captain Owen Stanley, R.N., F.R.S. Etc. During the Years 1846-1850. Including Discoveries and Surveys in New Guinea, the Louisiade Archipelago, Etc. to Which Is Added the Account of Mr. E.B. Kennedy's Expedition for the Exploration of the Cape York Peninsula. By John Macgillivray, F.R.G.S. Naturalist to the Expedition. — Volume 1 by MacGillivray, John

We divaricate so much, as Dr Johnson said.

From James Boswell Famous Scots Series by Leask, W. Keith (William Keith)

Colour bright brown; polypidom 2 to 3 inches high, consisting of straight pinnate fronds, pinnae or branches not opposite, nor regularly alternate, divaricate at rightangles.

From Narrative of the Voyage of H.M.S. Rattlesnake, Commanded By the Late Captain Owen Stanley, R.N., F.R.S. Etc. During the Years 1846-1850. Including Discoveries and Surveys in New Guinea, the Louisiade Archipelago, Etc. to Which Is Added the Account of Mr. E.B. Kennedy's Expedition for the Exploration of the Cape York Peninsula. By John Macgillivray, F.R.G.S. Naturalist to the Expedition. — Volume 1 by MacGillivray, John

Tail four inches from the base, slightly divaricated, and of twelve feathers.

From Zoological Illustrations, Volume I or Original Figures and Descriptions of New, Rare, or Interesting Animals by Swainson, William

Cardinal teeth small, fragile, variable in number, and rarely divaricated.

From Zoological Illustrations, Volume I or Original Figures and Descriptions of New, Rare, or Interesting Animals by Swainson, William

Tail short, slightly divaricated; olive, with whitish marginal tips.

From Zoological Illustrations, Volume I or Original Figures and Descriptions of New, Rare, or Interesting Animals by Swainson, William

The ventral spine is short and blunt, and is armed with short divaricated teeth, some of which are forked.

From Discoveries in Australia, Volume 1. With an Account of the Coasts and Rivers Explored and Surveyed During The Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle, in the Years 1837-38-39-40-41-42-43. By Command of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. Also a Narrative Of Captain Owen Stanley's Visits to the Islands in the Arafura Sea. by Stokes, John Lort

Tail divaricated and black; some of the lateral feathers faintly margined with orange.

From Zoological Illustrations, Volume I or Original Figures and Descriptions of New, Rare, or Interesting Animals by Swainson, William

Very much branched, tan-colored, then ochraceous; trunk slender, villous, rooting; branches flexuous, having many divisions, branches of the same color, divaricating, fragile.

From The Mushroom, Edible and Otherwise Its Habitat and its Time of Growth by Hard, Miron Elisha

I would like in a parenthetical section to expand and render rather more concrete this idea of the species as one divaricating flow of blood, by an appeal to its arithmetical aspect.

From First and Last Things by Wells, H. G. (Herbert George)

Related Words

• alter
• differ
• diverge
• diversify
• divide
• fluctuate
• modify
• range