wicker
Americannoun
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a slender, pliant twig; osier; withe.
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plaited or woven twigs or osiers as the material of baskets, chairs, etc.; wickerwork.
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something made of wickerwork, as a basket.
adjective
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consisting or made of wicker.
a wicker chair.
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covered with wicker.
a wicker jug.
noun
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a slender flexible twig or shoot, esp of willow
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short for wickerwork
adjective
Etymology
Origin of wicker
1300–50; Middle English < Scandinavian; compare dialectal Swedish vikker willow. See weak
Explanation
Wicker, a natural material traditionally made from woven branches or reeds, is used for making baskets and lightweight furniture, like the wicker chairs on your patio. Your wicker laundry hamper may be made of rattan, a flexible, woody stem, or bamboo, a sturdy grass. The carefully woven seats of your antique chairs are wicker too. The material used to make them is known by this term, and so is the style and the specific technique of weaving. The word wicker, originally wickerwork, shares a root with Scandinavian words like the Swedish vika, "to bend."
Vocabulary lists containing wicker
The Odyssey
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Mississippi Trial, 1955
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Sold
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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.
Think of it like a cornucopia: all the rich, colorful stuff is hidden beneath the wicker.
From Salon ● Oct. 26, 2026
Although Wills has said the finished film remains faithful to her original short story, the intimate relationship between the fisherwoman and her wicker husband has been embellished to "liven it up".
From BBC ● Oct. 25, 2026
His calm, quiet presence somehow sets off a fire of indignation and misunderstanding, which gets worse when one of the ladies asks the basket weaver to make her a wicker baby.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 22, 2026
Their wicker man isn’t an object of punishment, like the one that made Nicolas Cage flail around screaming about bees.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 22, 2026
We had coffee at the Iruña, sitting in comfortable wicker chairs looking out from the cool of the arcade at the big square.
From "The Sun Also Rises" by Ernest Hemingway
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
