lanceolate

American  

[lan-see-uh-leyt, -lit] / ˈlæn si əˌleɪt, -lɪt /

adjective

1. shaped like the head of a lance.

2. narrow, and tapering toward the apex or sometimes at the base, as a leaf.

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lanceolate British  

/ -lɪt, ˈlɑːnsɪəˌleɪt /

adjective

1. narrow and tapering to a point at each end

   lanceolate leaves

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lanceolate Scientific  

/ lăn′sē-ə-lāt′ /

1. Tapering from a rounded base toward an apex; lance-shaped. Many willows have lanceolate leaves.

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Other Word Forms

• lanceolately adverb
• sublanceolate adjective

Etymology

Origin of lanceolate

1750–60; < Latin lanceolātus armed with a small lance, equivalent to lanceol ( a ) small lance ( lance ( a ) lance ¹ + -ola -ole ¹ ) + -ātus -ate ¹

Example Sentences

The ears are far narrower than those of living rhinos – they’ve even been described as lanceolate in form.

From Scientific American • Nov. 9, 2013

Stem stout; floral leaves ovate and lanceolate, thick, crowded, sharply serrate, the lowest pinnatifid; fruit obscurely roughened.—Lakes and rivers, Ont. and N. Y. to Fla., west to Minn. and Tex.

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 Gray, Asa

Stem 2–4° high, rough-pubescent, as well as the oval-oblong or broadly lanceolate toothed leaves; upper leaves not clasping; heads in small clusters; flowers larger, cream-color.

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 Gray, Asa

Scales of the bell-shaped involucre lanceolate, equal, somewhat in 2 rows.

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 Gray, Asa

Scape 1–2° high; leaves linear to lanceolate, entire to dentate or laciniate; head often pubescent or villous; achene long-beaked.—Minn. to Neb. and southwestward.

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 Gray, Asa