quincuncial

American

[kwin-kuhn-shuhl, kwing-] / kwɪnˈkʌn ʃəl, kwɪŋ- /

Or quincunxial

adjective

consisting of, arranged, or formed like a quincunx or quincunxes.
Botany. noting a five-ranked arrangement of leaves.

quincuncial British

/ kwɪnˈkʌnʃəl /

adjective

consisting of or having the appearance of a quincunx
(of the petals or sepals of a five-membered corolla or calyx in the bud) arranged so that two members overlap another two completely and the fifth overlaps on one margin and is itself overlapped on the other

"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

quincuncially adverb

Etymology

Origin of quincuncial

1595–1605; < Latin quīncunciālis, equivalent to quīncunci- (stem of quīncunx quincunx ) + -ālis -al 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.

Towards the tower Criere stood the orchard full of all fruit-trees, set and ranged in a quincuncial order.

From Gargantua and Pantagruel, Illustrated, Book 1 by Motteux, Peter Anthony

The quincuncial arrangement of the dots is effected by the punching, moistening, and fastening down of odd and even dots, combined with the forward movement of the tissue to be chenilled.

From Scientific American Supplement, No. 303, October 22, 1881 by Various

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023