imbricate
Americanadjective
-
overlapping in sequence, as tiles or shingles on a roof.
-
of, relating to, or resembling overlapping tiles, as decoration or drawings.
-
Biology. overlapping like tiles, as scales or leaves.
-
characterized by or as if by overlapping shingles.
verb (used with or without object)
adjective
-
architect relating to or having tiles, shingles, or slates that overlap
-
botany (of leaves, scales, etc) overlapping each other
verb
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
"Against Nature," Vocabulary from the argument
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Learn to Speak Fluent Botany
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
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 pileus is corky, woody, hard, effuso-reflexed, imbricate, concrescent, subtomentose, then scabrous, uneven, reddish-yellow, then subferruginous, the margin acute.
From The Mushroom, Edible and Otherwise Its Habitat and its Time of Growth by Miron Elisha Hard
P. subsessile, imbricate, pilei tongue-shaped, glabrous, subrugose, rufous then tan, edge involute, entire; g. closely crowded, rufescent. vulpinus, Fr.
From European Fungus Flora: Agaricaceae by George Massee
Creeping, without ventral runners; leaves pale green, imbricate, spreading, roundish-ovate, obtuse.
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
Head small: base of the wings covered with conspicuous, lengthened, imbricate scales.
From Zoological Illustrations, Volume III or Original Figures and Descriptions of New, Rare, or Interesting Animals by William Swainson
Palpi very short, curved, hardly projecting beyond the head, closely compressed on the tongue, entirely covered with close imbricate scales, the tip naked.
From Zoological Illustrations, Volume I or Original Figures and Descriptions of New, Rare, or Interesting Animals by William Swainson
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
Sepals imbricated in the bud, rarely persistent, petal-like.
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
Plant-body a thallus, dichotomous or subpalmately branching, usually innovating from the apex or beneath it, more or less thickened in the middle, and bearing numerous rootlets beneath and usually colored or imbricating scales.
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 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
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
Branches are many, short, crowded, densely clothed from the base with sessile, imbricating, much compressed deflexed spikelets.
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
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.
