sessile

[ ses-il, -ahyl ]

/ ˈsɛs ɪl, -aɪl /

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adjective

Botany. attached by the base, or without any distinct projecting support, as a leaf issuing directly from the stem.

Zoology. permanently attached; not freely moving.

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Origin of sessile

1715–25; <Latin sessilis fit for sitting on, low enough to sit on, dwarfish (said of plants), equivalent to sess(us) (past participle of sedēre to sit¹) + -ilis-ile

OTHER WORDS FROM sessile

ses·sil·i·ty

[se-sil-i-tee], /sɛˈsɪl ɪ ti/, nounpseu·do·ses·sile, adjectivesub·ses·sile, adjective

Words nearby sessile

sesquioxide, sesquipedalian, sesquiplane, sesquiterpene, Sesshu, sessile, sessile oak, session, sessional indemnity, sessionman, session musician

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use sessile in a sentence

Amphipods, am′fi-pods, n. an order of small sessile-eyed crustaceans—a familiar example is the sand-hopper.
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 1 of 4: A-D)|Various
The spores are arranged in beaded threads in sessile conceptacles on the marginal leaflets.
The Sea Shore|William S. Furneaux
It grows to a height of eighteen inches or two feet, bearing silvery oval lanceolate leaves and sessile fruit.
The Sea Shore|William S. Furneaux
The leaves are sessile and pinnatifid, with very narrow segments, and the white flowers grow in solitary heads.
The Sea Shore|William S. Furneaux

The umbels are sessile or nearly so, the flowers have no calyx, and the fruit has five prominent ridges.
The Sea Shore|William S. Furneaux

British Dictionary definitions for sessile

sessile

/ (ˈsɛsaɪl) /

adjective

(of flowers or leaves) having no stalk; growing directly from the stem

(of animals such as the barnacle) permanently attached to a substratum

Derived forms of sessile

sessility (sɛˈsɪlɪtɪ), noun

Word Origin for sessile

C18: from Latin sēssilis concerning sitting, from sedēre to sit

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 sessile

sessile

[ sĕs′īl′ ]

Permanently attached or fixed and not free-moving, as corals and mussels.

Stalkless and attached directly at the base, as certain kinds of leaves and fruit.