proliferous
Americanadjective
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Botany.
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producing new individuals by budding or the like.
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producing an organ or shoot from an organ that is itself normally the last, as a shoot or a new flower from the midst of a flower.
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adjective
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(of plants) producing many side branches or offshoots and normally reproducing vegetatively by buds or by plantlets produced in the inflorescence
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(of certain animals) reproducing by means of buds, etc
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of proliferous
1645–55; < Medieval Latin prōlifer bearing offspring + -ous. See prolicide, -ferous
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.
We’ve all known how good Cranston is from his work on “Breaking Bad,” the cable drama that set a standard this new proliferous streaming era has had difficulty matching.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 20, 2018
Meanwhile a wife had been found for him, carefully chosen for her robust health and the proliferous reputation of her ancestors.
From Time Magazine Archive
In place of developing flower-buds, bracts may, in certain circumstances, as in proliferous or viviparous plants, produce leaf-buds.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 10, Slice 5 "Fleury, Claude" to "Foraker" by Various
In Larix the axis of the cone often continues its growth; similarly in Cephalotaxus the cones are often proliferous.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 7 "Gyantse" to "Hallel" by Various
The Phyllophoræ, one species of which is frequent on all our shores, may be recognised by the way in which the points and surfaces of their fronds throw out proliferous leaves.
From Sea-Weeds, Shells and Fossils by Peter Gray
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.
