petunia
Americannoun
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any garden plant belonging to the genus Petunia, of the nightshade family, native to tropical America, having funnel-shaped flowers of various colors.
-
a deep, reddish purple.
noun
Etymology
Origin of petunia
1815–25; < New Latin < obsolete French petun tobacco < Tupi petyn; see -ia
Vocabulary lists containing petunia
English Words Derived from Indigenous Languages of the Americas
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2015 Spelling Bee - Words from Round 2
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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.
For Stirling, the study required mastering a painstaking method for temporarily altering the levels of proteins of the petunia pistils to identify the signal-receptor protein interactions.
From Science Daily • Mar. 21, 2024
If you’re ready for a break from the usual begonias and impatiens, try a few of these flamboyant annuals and tender perennials: ● Petunia integrifolia: A cascading petunia with little violet flowers.
From Seattle Times • Apr. 29, 2023
To give you an idea of the creativity that required, my last version included the sentence, “What the petunia was that all about?”
From Washington Post • Mar. 9, 2020
Workers began planting about 8,000 red, white and blue petunia plants Wednesday on the state Capitol grounds.
From Washington Times • Jun. 5, 2019
Should she plant these new flowers in the petunia bed, to the left of the front door?
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.
