cactus

[ kak-tuhs ]

noun,plural cac·ti [kak-tahy], /ˈkæk taɪ/, cac·tus·es, cac·tus.
  1. any of numerous succulent plants of the family Cactaceae, of warm, arid regions of the New World, having fleshy, leafless, usually spiny stems, and typically having solitary, showy flowers.

Origin of cactus

1
1600–10; <Latin <Greek káktos cardoon

Other words from cactus

  • cac·tus·like, cactoid, adjective

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How to use cactus in a sentence

  • The cactuses were here from sixteen to seventeen feet high, and so close together that I could not go a foot into them.

  • A scanty growth of what looked like camel grass, interspersed euphorbias and cactuses of great height, was all that met the eye.

  • Gigantic cactuses surround the town, and cocoa palms rise to great heights within it.

    In Indian Mexico (1908) | Frederick Starr

British Dictionary definitions for cactus

cactus

/ (ˈkæktəs) /


nounplural -tuses or -ti (-taɪ)
  1. any spiny succulent plant of the family Cactaceae of the arid regions of America. Cactuses have swollen tough stems, leaves reduced to spines or scales, and often large brightly coloured flowers

  2. cactus dahlia a double-flowered variety of dahlia

Origin of cactus

1
C17: from Latin: prickly plant, from Greek kaktos cardoon

Derived forms of cactus

  • cactaceous (kækˈteɪʃəs), adjective

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012