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Synonyms

plicate

American  
[plahy-keyt, -kit, plahy-keyt] / ˈplaɪ keɪt, -kɪt, ˈplaɪ keɪt /

adjective

  1. Also plicated. folded like a fan; pleated.

verb (used with object)

plicated, plicating

  1. Surgery. to perform plication on.

plicate British  
/ ˈplaɪkeɪt /

adjective

  1. having or arranged in parallel folds or ridges; pleated

    a plicate leaf

    plicate rock strata
"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

Other Word Forms

  • plicately adverb
  • plicateness noun

Etymology

Origin of plicate

1690–1700; < Latin plicātus, past participle of plicāre to fold, ply 2; -ate 1

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.

He has a great eye for detail, but he also has a touch of the epiphenomenal imbroglios: "we listened to the muffled crepitations coming from inside"; eyebrows "plicate" foreheads.

From The Guardian • Jun. 14, 2012

The inescapable laws of biology soon com plicate Belinda's problem.

From Time Magazine Archive

The pileus is entirely white, membranaceous, convex, somewhat papillate, smooth, sulcate and plicate.

From The Mushroom, Edible and Otherwise Its Habitat and its Time of Growth by Hard, Miron Elisha

P. 4-7 mm. umbilicate, plicate, whitish or disc slightly tinged; g. attached to a free collar encircling the stem; s. 2-4 cm. glabrous, blackish, shining; sp.

From European Fungus Flora: Agaricaceae by Massee, George

P. 1-1.5 cm. subumbilicate, at length plicate, pale yellow-brown then whitish; g. broadly adnate, simple, unequal, distant; s. 2-3 cm. floccose or scurfy, reddish-brown; sp.

From European Fungus Flora: Agaricaceae by Massee, George

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.