oleander

American

[oh-lee-an-der, oh-lee-an-] / ˈoʊ liˌæn dər, ˌoʊ liˈæn- /

noun

a poisonous shrub, Nerium oleander, of the dogbane family, native to southern Eurasia, having evergreen leaves and showy clusters of pink, red, or white flowers, and widely cultivated as an ornamental.

oleander British

/ ˌəʊlɪˈændə /

noun

Also called: rosebay. a poisonous evergreen Mediterranean apocynaceous shrub or tree, Nerium oleander, with fragrant white, pink, or purple flowers

"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

Etymology

Origin of oleander

1540–50; < Medieval Latin oleander, oliandrum, obscurely akin to Late Latin laurandrum, perhaps a conflation of Latin laurus laurel and rhododendron rhododendron

Vocabulary lists containing oleander

"How It Feels to Be Colored Me"

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Vocabulary from Readings 2, Unit 4

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Vocabulary from Readings, Unit 5

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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.

Oleandrin comes from Nerium oleander, a shrub that is deadly to humans; scientists warned the New York Times that the compound was not known to be safe.

From Slate • Dec. 11, 2025

He’d woken up in an oleander bush with no memory of how he’d gotten there.

From Salon • Jan. 7, 2025

And one of the most abundant milkweed-visiting aphids, the nonnative oleander aphid, is host-specific, meaning it doesn’t eat other plants.

From Seattle Times • Nov. 8, 2023

“I heard about the oleander extract from Mike,” Carson said in an interview.

From Washington Post • Nov. 18, 2020

There were also hollyhocks and oleander bushes with pink and white flowers.

From "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023