terete

[ tuh-reet, ter-eet ]

adjective

1. slender and smooth, with a circular transverse section.
2. cylindrical or slightly tapering.

terete

/ ˈtɛriːt /

adjective

1. (esp of plant parts) smooth and usually cylindrical and tapering

Other Words From

• subte·rete adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of terete¹

1610–20; earlier teret < Latin teret- (stem of teres ) smooth and round, akin to terere to rub

Word History and Origins

Origin of terete¹

C17: from Latin teres smooth, from terere to rub

Example Sentences

Pod beaked or pointed beyond the end of the valves, or tipped with a rigid style, nearly terete, or 4-sided.

From Project Gutenberg

Nearly 300 species are Australian or Polynesian, and have terete or vertically compressed leaf stalks, instead of the bipinnate leaves of the much fewer species of America, Africa, etc.

From Project Gutenberg

A. cylindricum and A. Vandarum have terete leaves like Vanda teres, the former with white flowers, having a fleshy yellow and red lip, and the latter, which is more membraneous in substance, being white.

From Project Gutenberg

In consequence of this it is said to be terete.

From Project Gutenberg

Plasmodiocarp terete, elongated, flexuous, creeping, and reticulate, irregularly dehiscent; the wall a more or less thickened membrane, externally naked, with the granules of lime on the inner surface.

From Project Gutenberg