flax
Americannoun
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any plant of the genus Linum, especially L. usitatissimum, a slender, erect, annual plant having narrow, lance-shaped leaves and blue flowers, cultivated for its fiber and seeds.
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the fiber of this plant, manufactured into linen yarn for thread or woven fabrics.
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any of various plants resembling flax.
noun
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any herbaceous plant or shrub of the genus Linum , esp L. usitatissimum , which has blue flowers and is cultivated for its seeds (flaxseed) and for the fibres of its stems: family Linaceae
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the fibre of this plant, made into thread and woven into linen fabrics
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any of various similar plants
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Also called: harakeke. a swamp plant producing a fibre that is used by Māoris for decorative work, baskets, etc
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of flax
before 900; Middle English; Old English fleax; cognate with Dutch, Low German vlas, German Flachs
Vocabulary lists containing flax
Ancient Egypt - Introductory
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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.
We will never know if the flax fields took off and Shatz’s heirs prospered.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 17, 2025
The Prince and Princess of Wales later visited Mallon Farm in Cookstown, a flax farm which had previously been a dairy farm.
From BBC • Oct. 14, 2025
The specific brand of noncracker crackers that she recommends frequently are made of flax seeds, and are called, unfortunately, Flackers.
From Slate • May 10, 2025
But a host of other row crops are also used as a source of oils, including cotton, corn, safflower, peanut and flax.
From Salon • Jul. 29, 2024
Equally puzzling is the failure of people to domesticate flax in its wild range in western Europe and North Africa, or einkorn wheat in its wild range in the southern Balkans.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
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.
