divaricate
Americanverb (used without object)
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to spread apart; branch; diverge.
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Botany, Zoology. to branch at a wide angle.
adjective
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spread apart; widely divergent.
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Botany, Zoology. branching at a wide angle.
verb
adjective
Other Word Forms
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
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:
Divergent: spreading out from a common base; in Coleoptera, tarsal claws are divergent when they spread out only a little; divaricate when they separate widely.
From Explanation of Terms Used in Entomology by Smith, John. B.
We divaricate so much, as Dr Johnson said.
From James Boswell Famous Scots Series by Leask, W. Keith (William Keith)
A. contortus.Racemes two, both sessile, or one sessile and the other pedicelled on a peduncle which is more or less sheathed by a proper spathe, divaricate or deflexed.
From A Handbook of Some South Indian Grasses by Rangachari, K.
Stems or branches pinnate: pinnae or branches alternate, straight, divaricate.
Parasitic upon Polyzoa, etc. circinate branched--branches irregular divaricate.
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
The ventral spine is short and blunt, and is armed with short divaricated teeth, some of which are forked.
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
The talk itself was far more desultory, and in consequence of questions, objections, and explanations, divaricated much from the comparatively direct line I have endeavoured to give it here.
From Wilfrid Cumbermede by MacDonald, George
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
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)
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
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.
