oleander
Americannoun
-
oleanders
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
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.
See Examples For:
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
Working at Muir on a rainy February morning, Villegas took a break near a chain-link fence where he and his crew had just cut back some overgrown oleander.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 18, 2025
He’d woken up in an oleander bush with no memory of how he’d gotten there.
From Salon ● Jan. 7, 2025
Oleandrin is a poisonous substance found in the leaves of the oleander plant.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 11, 2023
But I thought — ” “He was only a small tyke, but she blamed him. Later, when he died, from the oleander, there were questions. Some people suspected — ” He paused, and sighed.
From "Gathering Blue" by Lois Lowry
Oleander leaf scorch, which can infect olives because they are in the same family as oleanders, can cause leaf yellowing and localized defoliation.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 6, 2023
Solo acoustic guitarists play in turns as I inhale the music and heady whiffs of oleanders.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 11, 2019
“It’s heartbreaking,” he said, “to see trees dying in such dramatic numbers in famously lush cities like Pasadena, Alhambra and Arcadia: sycamores, all the maples, olives, liquidambers, flower plums, myrtles, oleanders and oaks.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 19, 2017
Today lush pink and white oleanders line broad avenues, and stately sycamores and ginkgo trees extend their shade to pedestrians wilting in the August heat.
From National Geographic ● Aug. 7, 2015
Dropping to the ground, she crouched in a thicket of oleanders planted just under the window.
From "Lupita Mañana" by Patricia Beatty
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.
