compass plant
noun
Simple meaning
Any of several plants having leaves so arranged on the axis as to indicate the cardinal points of the compass.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
kuhmpuhsplantSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈkʌmpəspˈlænt
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
Any of several plants having leaves so arranged on the axis as to indicate the cardinal points of the compass
Any of several plants, the leaves of which become oriented to the morning sun
Silphium laciniatum, native to eastern North America.
Wyethia angustifolia, California compass plant, native to western North America.
Lactuca serriola, native to Europe, widely introduced to temperate regions.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Any of several plants having leaves so arranged on the axis as to indicate the cardinal points of the compass
Used this way, compass plant is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.