TUMBLEWEED

Pronunciation (US):

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does tumbleweed mean? 

• TUMBLEWEED (noun)
  The noun TUMBLEWEED has 4 senses:

1. any plant that breaks away from its roots in autumn and is driven by the wind as a light rolling mass

2. prickly bushy Eurasian plant; a troublesome weed in central and western United States

3. bushy annual weed of central North America having greenish flowers and winged seeds

4. bushy plant of western United States

  Familiarity information: TUMBLEWEED used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TUMBLEWEED (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Any plant that breaks away from its roots in autumn and is driven by the wind as a light rolling mass

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

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

weed (any plant that crowds out cultivated plants)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Prickly bushy Eurasian plant; a troublesome weed in central and western United States

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Synonyms:

Russian cactus; Russian thistle; Russian tumbleweed; Salsola kali tenuifolia; tumbleweed

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

bush; shrub (a low woody perennial plant usually having several major stems)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Bushy annual weed of central North America having greenish flowers and winged seeds

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Synonyms:

Cycloloma atriplicifolium; tumbleweed; winged pigweed

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

bush; shrub (a low woody perennial plant usually having several major stems)

Holonyms ("tumbleweed" is a member of...):

Cycloloma; genus Cycloloma (a caryophyllaceous genus of the family Chenopodiaceae)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Bushy plant of western United States

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Synonyms:

Amaranthus albus; Amaranthus graecizans; tumbleweed

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

amaranth (any of various plants of the genus Amaranthus having dense plumes of green or red flowers; often cultivated for food)