triffid

British

/ ˈtrɪfɪd /

noun

any of a species of fictional plants that supposedly grew to a gigantic size, were capable of moving about, and could kill humans

"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

Etymology

Origin of triffid

from the science fiction novel The Day of the Triffids (1951) by John Wyndham

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.

The future, it seemed, needed a Martian or two or a Triffid or two.

From Salon

He went so far as to name an outsize thistle that grew in his vegetable garden “the Triffid.”

From Slate

There is something of the triffid about them.

From Washington Post

Regulation that prevents The Next Big Thing is truly a lost opportunity—many once-touted biotech innovations have been killed in the crib by over-regulation: Triffid flax, Flvr Savr tomato, NewLeaf Potatoes and almost the entire field of transgenic animals.

From Forbes

The Triffid Nebulae is a stellar nursery also about 6,000 light years away powered by a host of young stars The robotic telescopes run by Bradford and Liverpool are mainly service instruments that require little or no knowledge of astronomy to use.

From The Guardian

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