any of several trees of the genus Nyssa, having ovate leaves, clusters of minute flowers, and purple, berrylike fruit, especially N. aquatica, of swampy regions of the eastern, southern, and midwestern U.S.
the soft, light wood of these trees.
any of several cornaceous trees of the genus Nyssa , esp N. aquatica , a large tree of deep swamps and rivers of the southern US
the light strong wood of any of these trees
1720–30, perhaps < Creek *’topilwa literally, swamp tree (equivalent to íto tree + opílwa swamp)
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The treed “Woodland Garden” to the west, with black tupelo and swamp white oaks, gives way to a “Perennial Meadow,” whose asters, purple beebalms and orange butterfly weed were chosen for their chromatic effect.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 24, 2025
Like a honey that has a lot of other stuff besides tupelo in it and cutting our pure tupelo with it.
From Salon ● Jun. 3, 2023
“It was actually quite cozy. The tupelo trees took care of me.”
From New York Times ● Oct. 12, 2018
Nurseries donated other plants, including 58 tupelo trees, each one representing a person lost in the attack.
From Washington Times ● Oct. 16, 2017
He back-flipped in the air and came down on a water tupelo tree about three miles from Frightful.
From "Frightful's Mountain" by Jean Craighead George
On Monday, Ohio-based Huntington Bancshares said it would acquire Cadence Bank, a Houston- and Tupelo, Miss.-based bank with some $53 billion of assets and 390 branches.
From Barron's ● Oct. 28, 2025
With dual headquarters in Houston, Texas, and Tupelo, Miss., Cadence has roughly 400 locations across the South, bringing Huntington into 21 states.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 27, 2025
It owns nearly two dozen stations, including in Northern California near Redding, as well as Honolulu; Flint, Mich.; Madison, Wis.; and Tupelo, Miss.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 2, 2025
He resigned from the ministry and moved his family to Tupelo, where in 1977 he founded the National Federation for Decency, later renamed the American Family Association.
From New York Times ● Jan. 3, 2024
“No matter what, a pageant girl keeps her smile,” Mr. Ray Ray, the pageant coach from Tupelo, had told her once.
From "Beauty Queens" by Libba Bray
The interior is accessible via boardwalks, which provide views of Spanish moss, bald cypress and a forest of water tupelos.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 15, 2016
It was over-arched by tall oaks and elms, beeches, tupelos, and maples.
From The Joyful Heart by Schauffler, Robert Haven
These trees were large tupelos, and the vines, clinging from trunk to trunk and to one another, formed an impenetrable screen with their dark green leaves.
From The Boy Hunters by Unknown
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.
