ternate
adjective
consisting of three; arranged in threes.
ternate
1 American
[tur-nit, -neyt]
/ ˈtɜr nɪt, -neɪt /
adjective
-
consisting of three; arranged in threes.
-
Botany.
-
consisting of three leaflets, as a compound leaf.
-
having leaves arranged in whorls of three, as a plant.
-
Ternate
2
American
[ter -nah-te, ter-nah-tee]
/ tɛrˈnɑ tɛ, tərˈnɑ ti /
noun
ternate
British
/ ˈtɜːnɪt, -neɪt /
adjective
-
(esp of a leaf) consisting of three leaflets or other parts
-
(esp of plants) having groups of three members
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of ternate
From the New Latin word ternātus, dating back to 1745–55. See tern 2, -ate 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.
See Examples For:
Leaves binate, ternate, or both, from 10 to 15 cm. long, stout and rigid; resin-ducts external, or external and medial.
From The Genus Pinus by George Russell Shaw
Leaves binate, sometimes ternate, from 15 to 30 cm. long, rigid, erect; hypoderm of uniform thick-walled cells; resin-ducts of remarkable size, septal, or not quite touching the endoderm and technically external.
From The Genus Pinus by George Russell Shaw
Leaves ternate, from 12 to 20 cm. long; resin-ducts medial or medial and internal, hypoderm biform.
From The Genus Pinus by George Russell Shaw
St. Patrick is said to have shown on the ternate leaf of the Wood Sorrel to his rude audience the possibility of a Trinity in Unity.
From Herbal Simples Approved for Modern Uses of Cure by William Thomas Fernie
Both this and the patarra are creeping plants: the last with ternate leaves.
From A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume 16 by Robert Kerr
The party aimed for Ternate, an island in Indonesia, 800 miles from their shipwreck.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 20, 2026
Indonesian officials said two Singaporeans and one local resident from the nearby city of Ternate had died.
From BBC ● May 8, 2026
The Portuguese, meanwhile, had nervously noted that visitors from Mecca, the Ottoman Empire, and other Southeast Asian Islamic sultanates frequented Ternate.
From Textbooks ● Dec. 14, 2022
Police say a flight attendant aboard a Citilink plane traveling from Jakarta to Ternate in North Maluku province on Sunday noticed the man change the clothes in the lavatory.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 22, 2021
Wallace had no knowledge this was happening; he was too far away, in Ternate, Indonesia, for them to let him know in time.
From "Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith" by Deborah Heiligman
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.
