receptacle

[ ri-sep-tuh-kuhl ]

/ rɪˈsɛp tə kəl /

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See synonyms for receptacle on Thesaurus.com

noun

a container, device, etc., that receives or holds something: a receptacle for trash.

Botany. the modified or expanded portion of the stem or axis that bears the organs of a single flower or the florets of a flower head.

Electricity. a contact device installed at an outlet for the connection of a portable lamp, appliance, or other electric device by means of a plug and flexible cord.

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Origin of receptacle

1375–1425; Middle English (<Old French ) <Latin receptāculum reservoir, equivalent to receptā(re) to take again, receive back (frequentative of recipere to receive) + -culum-cle²

Words nearby receptacle

recency effect, recension, recent, recently, recept, receptacle, receptible, reception, reception centre, reception desk, receptionism

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use receptacle in a sentence

Which causes all of the caterpillars to fall out of the hedge and into your receptacles.
Streetlights are making caterpillars grow up faster—and that’s a bad thing|Philip Kiefer|August 25, 2021|Popular-Science
It looks at how people share information, and how sometimes we rely on others as being the information receptacle.
Reports of a Baleful Internet Are Greatly Exaggerated - Issue 104: Harmony|Brian Gallagher|July 21, 2021|Nautilus
Inventions like the Lapee female urinal, a pink cubicle in which the user squats over an oval-shaped receptacle to relieve herself, can help gather this pure pee.
‘Pipe Dreams’ flushes out hope in an unexpected place: the toilet|Maria Temming|April 6, 2021|Science News
The hotel didn’t have any trash receptacles for the lobby and had to borrow some from a neighboring property that has been closed since the start of the pandemic.
Opening a new hotel is never easy. Try doing it during a pandemic.|Andrea Sachs|March 19, 2021|Washington Post

Also, some form of trash receptacle would be welcomed, as we were often stumbling around our bag of trash and sticking it beneath the dinette table at night to avoid attracting animals.
An Off-Grid Test of Airstream's Most Rugged Trailer|Hayden Coplen|November 22, 2020|Outside Online
The average reader, he declares, is but an unwitting receptacle for media narratives.
What is the News? Whatever Alain de Botton Thinks It Is|Robert Herritt|February 20, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Thefacebook was nothing but a platform—a receptacle for the contributions of its users.
How Mark Zuckerberg's Vision Saved Facebook|David Kirkpatrick|October 12, 2010|DAILY BEAST
As a result, health reform has become a bottomless receptacle for a host of free-floating fears harbored by many Americans.
Can God Save Health Care?|James Carroll|August 21, 2009|DAILY BEAST
She was cast into a bare and miserable dungeon, in that subterranean receptacle of woe, where there was not even a bed.
Madame Roland, Makers of History|John S. C. Abbott
In this shallow receptacle lay an oval miniature which the man took out and held under the strong light of the gas jet.
Those Dale Girls|Frank Weston Carruth
Strange that he should be thus happy in a receptacle of so much pain and sorrow; yet he was light-hearted as the son of a grandee.
My Ten Years' Imprisonment|Silvio Pellico
The letter f marks a receptacle for water, which seems to have been used for moistening the bread while baking.
The Private Life of the Romans|Harold Whetstone Johnston
Ida, awakened by her movements, watched her as she produced a tiny packet from the last-mentioned receptacle.
Alone|Marion Harland

British Dictionary definitions for receptacle

receptacle

/ (rɪˈsɛptəkəl) /

noun

an object that holds something; container

botany

the enlarged or modified tip of the flower stalk that bears the parts of the flower
the shortened flattened stem bearing the florets of the capitulum of composite flowers such as the daisy
the part of lower plants that bears the reproductive organs or spores

Word Origin for receptacle

C15: from Latin receptāculum a store-place, from receptāre to receive again, from recipere to receive

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

Scientific definitions for receptacle

receptacle

[ rĭ-sĕp′tə-kəl ]

The enlarged upper end of a flower stalk that bears the flower or group of flowers. The fleshy edible part of an apple is actually a modified receptacle. See more at flower.

receptacle

Origin of receptacle

Words nearby receptacle

Words related to receptacle

How to use receptacle in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for receptacle

Word Origin for receptacle

Scientific definitions for receptacle