alfalfa
noun
Simple meaning
Important European leguminous forage plant with trifoliate leaves and blue-violet flowers grown widely as a pasture and hay crop.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
alfalfuhSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ælˈfælfə
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
Important European leguminous forage plant with trifoliate leaves and blue-violet flowers grown widely as a pasture and hay crop
uncountable
A plant, principally of Medicago sativa, grown as a pasture crop.
countable
A type or breed of this plant.
One of 77 counties in Oklahoma, United States. County seat: Cherokee.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Important European leguminous forage plant with trifoliate leaves and blue-violet flowers grown widely as a pasture and hay crop
Used this way, alfalfa is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It suits considered writing and prepared speech.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Serious and weighty
- Usage feel
- Formal and precise
Nearby words
- medicago sativa , rarer, so it draws attention
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: important European leguminous forage plant with trifoliate leaves and blue-violet flowers grown widely as a pasture and hay crop
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