circumnutate
Americanverb (used without object)
Other Word Forms
- circumnutation noun
- circumnutatory adjective
Etymology
Origin of circumnutate
1875–80; circum- + nutate < Latin nūtātus, past participle of nūtāre to nod in assent, sway, totter
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.
The central idea of the book is that the movements of plants in relation to light, gravitation, &c., are modifications of a spontaneous tendency to revolve or circumnutate, which is widely inherent in the growing parts of plants.
From Project Gutenberg
Full-grown leaflets circumnutate during the day slowly and on a small scale.
From Project Gutenberg
After 5.15 P.M., by which time the light had become obscure, the hypocotyl began to circumnutate about the same spot.
From Project Gutenberg
Such periods probably represent attempts to circumnutate in a direction opposite to apogeotropism.
From Project Gutenberg
The first change is the protrusion of the radicle, which begins at once to circumnutate.
From Project Gutenberg
Definitions 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.
