pansy
noun
a violet, Viola tricolor hortensis, cultivated in many varieties, having richly and variously colored flowers.
pansy
1 American
[pan-zee]
/ ˈpæn zi /
noun
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pansies
plural
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a violet, Viola tricolor hortensis, cultivated in many varieties, having richly and variously colored flowers.
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the flower of this plant.
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Slang.
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Extremely Disparaging and Offensive. a contemptuous term used to refer to a gay man.
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Offensive. a weak, effeminate, and often cowardly man.
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Pansy
2
American
[pan-zee]
/ ˈpæn zi /
noun
pansy
British
/ ˈpænzɪ /
noun
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any violaceous garden plant that is a variety of Viola tricolor, having flowers with rounded velvety petals, white, yellow, or purple in colour See also wild pansy
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slang an effeminate or homosexual man or boy
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a strong violet colour
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( as adjective )
a pansy carpet
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Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of pansy
First recorded in 1490–1500, and in 1930–35 pansy for def. 3; from Middle French pensée “pansy,” literally, “thought,” noun use of feminine of past participle of penser “to think,” from Latin pēnsāre “to weigh, consider”; see pensive
Vocabulary lists containing pansy
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:
Helen Litchfield, secretary of the botany section at La Société Guernesiaise, said the team's efforts in propagating the dwarf pansy meant it was no longer at risk.
From BBC ● Apr. 3, 2026
“There was even this period ‘the pansy craze’ where it was fashionable to have limp-wristed men in movies who may have been gay or trans or entirely outside that in movies.”
From The Guardian ● Feb. 27, 2019
You can also try perennials such as the marsh marigold, Lily of the valley, astilbe, clematis, primrose, pansy and lamb’s ear.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 15, 2014
Going without a DVR demonstrated exactly how much of a pansy I am: I responded to not having DVR much the same way that 19th-century Irish responded to not having potatoes.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 13, 2011
He was one of those guys that think they're being a pansy if they don't break around forty of your fingers when they shake hands with you.
From "The Catcher in the Rye" by J. D. Salinger
Leola Davis owns Pansy Esthetics in West Hollywood, one of the few local skincare providers that caters to transgender people and nonbinary people post-operation.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 22, 2026
“The Pansy Craze,” for example, takes note of pre-Prohibition-era underground clubs, often gay, where drag and other performers gained local fame, in addition to bohemian European establishments, some with a vibrant public face.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 24, 2025
In 1939, a Royal Navy corvette due to be named HMS Pansy became HMS Heartsease just before it was launched.
From BBC ● Jan. 27, 2025
The word depression isn't mentioned explicitly, but it's clear Pansy is struggling.
From BBC ● Jan. 26, 2025
“You go on,” Malfoy told Pansy, who was waiting for him with her hand held out as though hoping he would hold it.
From "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" by J.K. Rowling
"Dwarf pansies are definitely one of our very rarest plants, that will not be going extinct anytime soon," she said.
From BBC ● Apr. 3, 2026
Trudging behind my mom to the local nursery, winding through the stacks of pansies and roses.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 7, 2026
A military band marches among flowerbeds of pansies and violets.
From BBC ● May 3, 2025
Faced with more bulbs than planting time, last fall I resorted to filling a small container with Narcissus bulbocodium topped off with winter pansies.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 19, 2023
They were nothing like the dazzling purple petunias and multicolored pansies Miss Mallory cared for at the Home for Lost Girls, but they made Cady ache just the slightest for the place all the same.
From "A Tangle of Knots" by Lisa Graff
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.
