floccose

[flok-ohs]

See more synonyms for floccose on Thesaurus.com

adjective

Botany. consisting of or bearing woolly tufts or long soft hairs.
flocculent.

Origin of floccose

First recorded in 1745–55, floccose is from the Late Latin word floccōsus full of tufts of wool. See floccus, -ose¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for floccose

flocculent, fluffy, hairy, hirsute, shaggy, soft, pilose, floccose, lanose, pileous, whiskered

Examples from the Web for floccose

Historical Examples of floccose

It is quite large in size, white or whitish, very woolly or floccose.
The Mushroom, Edible and Otherwise
M. E. Hard
The stem is slender, nearly equal, floccose, bulbous at the base.
The Mushroom, Edible and Otherwise
M. E. Hard
It has a big, ragged, floccose ring, and the pithy stem is inclined to be hollow.
Mushroom Culture
W. Robinson
Name from , a lock of wool, in allusion to the floccose down.
The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States
Asa Gray
Floccose, composed of or bearing tufts of woolly or long and soft hairs.
The Elements of Botany
Asa Gray

British Dictionary definitions for floccose

floccose

adjective

consisting of or covered with woolly tufts or hairsfloccose growths of bacteria

Word Origin for floccose

C18: from Latin floccōsus full of flocks of wool

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

floccose in Medicine

floccose

[flŏk′ōs]

adj.

Growing in short curving filaments or chains, closely but irregularly disposed. Used of certain bacteria.