Synonyms

echinate

American

[ih-kahy-neyt, -nit, ek-uh-neyt, -nit] / ɪˈkaɪ neɪt, -nɪt, ˈɛk əˌneɪt, -nɪt /

Also echinated

adjective

bristly; prickly.

echinate British

/ ˈɛkɪˌneɪt /

adjective

biology covered with spines, bristles, or bristle-like outgrowths

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of echinate

From the Latin word echīnātus, dating back to 1660–70. See echinus, -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.

Echinate, -d, ek′in-āt, -ed, adj. prickly like a hedgehog: set with prickles or bristles.—ns.

From Project Gutenberg

Echinate: Beset with pointed prominences.

From Project Gutenberg

Spikelets fascicled unilaterally on a broad rachis, 4-glumed, glumes not echinate 13.

From Project Gutenberg

Trachys.Spikelets binate and all round the rachis, 3-glumed, glumes echinate 14.

From Project Gutenberg

The spikelets are arranged in groups of two, facing each other and appearing like a single spikelet with two equal echinate glumes, sessile, or obscurely pedicelled on very short, tumid, pubescent branches.

From Project Gutenberg

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023