tumbleweed

American  

[tuhm-buhl-weed] / ˈtʌm bəlˌwid /

noun

• tumbleweeds
  plural

1. any of various plants, as Amaranthus albus, A. graecizans, or the Russian thistle, Salsola kali, whose branching upper parts become detached from the roots and are driven about by the wind.

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tumbleweed British  

/ ˈtʌmbəlˌwiːd /

noun

1. any densely branched plant that breaks off near the ground on withering and is rolled about by the wind, esp one of several amaranths of the western US and Australia

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• tumbleweeds
  plural

Etymology

Origin of tumbleweed

An Americanism dating back to 1885–90; tumble + weed ¹

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

tumbleweed tumbleweeds

In a spot that AT&T introduced in October, actor Luke Wilson pulls a newspaper out of a tumbleweed and reads, “T-Mobile most challenged for deceptive ads.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 14, 2025

Now it has transformed itself into tumbleweed proper, sidling and bouncing wherever the wind chooses.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 17, 2025

Rust depicts the manhunt for grandfather and grandson amidst a backdrop of snow-capped mountains and tumbleweed dirt towns.

From BBC ● Nov. 20, 2024

A lone tumbleweed blows through piles of coal at the Rosebud Mine outside Colstrip, a few miles from the power plant.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 16, 2024

We listened in rapture, and so, I half believed, did the tumbleweed and cacti, the desert, the mountains, all listening to the girl in the longfalling skirt.

From "Stargirl" by Jerry Spinelli

West Texas is dotted with tumbleweeds, underutilized oil and gas infrastructure and ranches.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 19, 2025

On the ground, amid the sagebrush and tumbleweeds, are a few old barracks, a weathered wooden fence strung with barbed wire and a wind-battered guard tower.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 28, 2024

Ramsey said that three consecutive windy storms in 2021 also brought in tumbleweeds to South Jordan, but Saturday’s event “was something to behold.”

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 5, 2024

But for researchers like Kainz and CU Boulder geologist Lon Abbott, the High Plains that extend over much of eastern Colorado -- the territory of tumbleweeds and prairie dogs -- may be even more interesting.

From Science Daily ● Mar. 4, 2024

He aimed for tumbleweeds lying in the roadbed and shouted with triumph each time he squashed one.

From "Farewell to Manzanar" by Jeanne Houston