adjective
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like wool; fleecy
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chem aggregated in woolly cloudlike masses
a flocculent precipitate
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biology covered with tufts or flakes of a waxy or wool-like substance
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of flocculent
Explanation
If something's puffy or has tufts, you can describe it as flocculent. Sheep are flocculent before they're sheared, and much less flocculent afterward. The unusual adjective flocculent basically means "fluffy," although it's specific to the way wool is fluffy — in tufts. Your carefully styled hair might be flocculent after a drive in a convertible, for example. The root is the Latin word floccus, which means "lock of hair" or "tuft of wool."
Vocabulary lists containing flocculent
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.
They invariably come laden with words that seem meant to prove his vocabulary is bigger than yours: flocculent, crapulent, caducous, anaglypta, mephitic, velutinous.
From New York Times ● Oct. 1, 2020
“A vast, flocculent cloud darkened and devitalized the city, mimicking the family mood like weather does in memories.”
From New York Times ● Apr. 11, 2019
Leaves thick; upper surface light green, dull, smooth; lower surface pale green, pubescent, flocculent; lobes lacking; terminus acute; petiolar sinus deep, narrow; lateral sinus very shallow; teeth shallow, wide.
From Manual of American Grape-Growing by U. P. Hedrick
When the secretion is thin and serous, the diphtheritic infection renders it no thicker, but makes it slightly flocculent, and it may become very profuse.
From A System of Practical Medicine by American Authors, Vol. I Volume 1: Pathology and General Diseases by Various
P. 4-5 mm. campan. flocculent, edge becoming striate, white; g. chocolate; s. 1-2 cm. flocculent, white; sp.
From European Fungus Flora: Agaricaceae by George Massee
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.
