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Showing results for imbricate. Search instead for imbricated.
Synonyms

imbricate

American  
[im-bri-kit, -kayt, im-bri-kayt] / ˈɪm brɪ kɪt, -ˌkeɪt, ˈɪm brɪˌkeɪt /

adjective

  1. overlapping in sequence, as tiles or shingles on a roof.

  2. of, relating to, or resembling overlapping tiles, as decoration or drawings.

  3. Biology. overlapping like tiles, as scales or leaves.

  4. characterized by or as if by overlapping shingles.


verb (used with or without object)

imbricated, imbricating
  1. to overlap, as tiles or shingles.

imbricate British  

adjective

  1. architect relating to or having tiles, shingles, or slates that overlap

  2. botany (of leaves, scales, etc) overlapping each other

"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

verb

  1. (tr) to decorate with a repeating pattern resembling scales or overlapping tiles

"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

Other Word Forms


Etymology

Origin of imbricate

1650–60; < Late Latin imbricātus tiled with imbrices, shaped like such a tile or tiling, equivalent to imbric- (stem of imbrex ) imbrex + -ātus -ate 1


Vocabulary lists containing imbricate

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:

The spikelets are about 1/8 inch, imbricate, a sessile and a stalked one from the top of each joint, greenish or purple.

From A Handbook of Some South Indian Grasses by K. Rangachari

This variety of imbricate aestivation has been termed cochlear.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 10, Slice 5 "Fleury, Claude" to "Foraker" by Various

Thallus oblong with rounded lobes, distinctly areolate and porose, with imbricate sublunate scales beneath; gemmæ in crescent-shaped receptacles.

From The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States Including the District East of the Mississippi and North of North Carolina and Tennessee by Asa Gray

In all of the specimens the middorsal scales are keeled and much smaller than the smooth pavementlike or slightly imbricate ventrals.

From The Amphibians and Reptiles of Michoacán, México by William E. Duellman

The pileus is sessile, or sometimes narrowed at the base into a short stem, the caps often numerous and crowded together in an overlapping or imbricate manner.

From Studies of American Fungi. Mushrooms, Edible, Poisonous, etc. by George Francis Atkinson

Long and lithe, complexly imbricated, strange: Here is contact.

From New York Times ● Dec. 28, 2020

Space travel was imbricated with science fiction, with dreams of heroic courage that continue to fuel unscientific fantasies.

From Scientific American ● Aug. 24, 2020

Volutes, asportation, imbricated, Mnemosyne and phthisic are a few of the others.

From Washington Post ● Sep. 10, 2015

I’ve been rummaging in my skull the past few days for the skeleton key that might spring open the interlocking chambers of rap phenomenon Kendrick Lamar’s intricate, imbricated, and self-implicating new album.

From Slate ● Mar. 19, 2015

Corolla perfectly or not at all papilionaceous, sometimes nearly regular, imbricated in the bud, the upper or odd petal inside and enclosed by the others, Stamens 10 or fewer, commonly distinct, inserted on the calyx.

From The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States Including the District East of the Mississippi and North of North Carolina and Tennessee by Asa Gray

The leaf-sheath is smooth, imbricating, 1/2 to 1-1/2 inches long.

From A Handbook of Some South Indian Grasses by K. Rangachari

Flowers at the extremities of the branches, 1½ in. long, composed of numerous imbricating, scale-like petals, curving inwards, and coloured crimson.

From Cactus Culture for Amateurs Being Descriptions of the Various Cactuses Grown in This Country, With Full and Practical Instructions for Their Successful Cultivation by W. Watson

The leaves are for the most part palmately-lobed, and the flowers are regular, consisting of five sepals, five imbricating petals, alternating with five glandules at their base, ten stamens and a beaked ovary.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 11, Slice 7 "Geoponici" to "Germany" by Various

In this spikelet the rachilla bears a number of glumes alternating and imbricating.

From A Handbook of Some South Indian Grasses by K. Rangachari

The inflorescence consists of a solitary spike with closely imbricating spikelets.

From A Handbook of Some South Indian Grasses by K. Rangachari

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