spinifex

[ spahy-nuh-feks ]
/ ˈspaɪ nəˌfɛks /

noun, plural spi·ni·fex, spi·ni·fex·es.

any of several Australian grasses of the genera Spinifex, Plectrachne, or Triodia, having spiny seeds and stiff, sharp-pointed leaves that grow in dense masses.

QUIZZES

HEED THE VOX POPULI, AND TAKE THIS WORD OF THE DAY QUIZ!

Test your memory on these verbal firecrackers from the week of June 29 to July 5!
Question 1 of 7
anchorite
a granular metamorphic rock.
a person who has retired to a solitary place for a life of religious seclusion.
a hobble or fetter for a horse or other animal.
TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Words nearby spinifex

spineless, spinescent, spinet, spingarn, spiniferous, spinifex, spinmeister, spinnaker, spinnbarkeit, spinner, spinneret
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020

Example sentences from the Web for spinifex

British Dictionary definitions for spinifex

spinifex
/ (ˈspɪnɪˌfɛks) /

noun

Also called: porcupine grass Australian any of various coarse spiny-leaved inland grasses of the genus Triodia
any grass of the SE Asian genus Spinifex, having pointed leaves and spiny seed heads: often planted to bind loose sand

Word Origin for spinifex

C19: from New Latin, from Latin spīna a thorn + -fex maker, from facere to make
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