FLOWERING

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does flowering mean? 

• FLOWERING (noun)
  The noun FLOWERING has 2 senses:

1. the time and process of budding and unfolding of blossoms

2. a developmental process

  Familiarity information: FLOWERING used as a noun is rare.

• FLOWERING (adjective)
  The adjective FLOWERING has 1 sense:

1. having a flower or bloom

  Familiarity information: FLOWERING used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FLOWERING (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The time and process of budding and unfolding of blossoms

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural processes

Synonyms:

anthesis; blossoming; efflorescence; florescence; flowering; inflorescence

Hypernyms ("flowering" is a kind of...):

development; growing; growth; maturation; ontogenesis; ontogeny ((biology) the process of an individual organism growing organically; a purely biological unfolding of events involved in an organism changing gradually from a simple to a more complex level)

Derivation:

flower (produce or yield flowers)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A developmental process

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural processes

Synonyms:

flowering; unfolding

Context example:

the flowering of antebellum culture

Hypernyms ("flowering" is a kind of...):

development; evolution (a process in which something passes by degrees to a different stage (especially a more advanced or mature stage))

• FLOWERING (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Having a flower or bloom

Context example:

a flowering plant

Antonym:

flowerless (without flower or bloom and not producing seeds)

 Context examples 

A fourfold increase in human population density advanced flowering and leaf production dates by about three days.

(Urbanization delays spring plant growth in warm regions, National Science Foundation)

More than 90 percent of flowering plant species combine male and female characteristics in one plant.

(Striped maple trees often change mating types, with females more likely to die, National Science Foundation)

The essential oil from the flowering tops of Artemisia Vulgaris.

(Artemisia Vulgaris Top Oil, NCI Thesaurus)

The oil extracted from the leaves and flowering tops of Hyssopus officinalis.

(Hyssop Oil, NCI Thesaurus)

Parts of the flowering plant have been used in some cultures to treat certain medical problems.

(Indian cress, NCI Dictionary)

The flowering seed plants, as differentiated from gymnosperms, the non-flowering seed plants.

(Angiosperms, NOAA Paleoclimate Glossary)

The essential oil extracted from the flowering tops of Lavandula x intermedia.

(Lavandin Oil, NCI Thesaurus)

Very distantly-related plants, such as non-flowering liverworts that are believed to resemble some of the first land plants, are often overlooked.

(Ancient defence strategy continues to protect plants from pathogens, University of Cambridge)

An herbal remedy containing the leaves and/or flowering tops of a species of wormwood (Artemisia absinthium) with potential anticachexia activity.

(Artemisia absinthium, NCI Thesaurus)

The non-flowering seed plants, as differentiated from angiosperms, the flowering seed plants.

(Gymnosperms, NOAA Paleoclimate Glossary)