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
Seringe figures a proliferous flower of Arabis alpina with two sepals only, and a similar occurrence has been noticed in Diplotaxis tenuifolia.
From Vegetable Teratology An Account of the Principal Deviations from the Usual Construction of Plants by Maxwell T. Masters
The calyx therefore, contrary to the nature of the common Polytrichum, is proliferous from its base.
From Lachesis Lapponica A Tour in Lapland, Volume 1 by Carl von Linn?
In proliferous roses, or in cases where the central axis of the flower is prolonged, it frequently happens that the pistils are more or less replaced by leaves.
From Vegetable Teratology An Account of the Principal Deviations from the Usual Construction of Plants by Maxwell T. Masters
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.
