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View synonyms for receptacle

receptacle

[ ri-sep-tuh-kuhl ]

noun

  1. a container, device, etc., that receives or holds something:

    a receptacle for trash.

  2. Botany. the modified or expanded portion of the stem or axis that bears the organs of a single flower or the florets of a flower head.
  3. Electricity. a contact device installed at an outlet for the connection of a portable lamp, appliance, or other electric device by means of a plug and flexible cord.


receptacle

/ rɪˈsɛptəkəl /

noun

  1. an object that holds something; container
  2. botany
    1. the enlarged or modified tip of the flower stalk that bears the parts of the flower
    2. the shortened flattened stem bearing the florets of the capitulum of composite flowers such as the daisy
    3. the part of lower plants that bears the reproductive organs or spores


receptacle

/ rĭ-sĕptə-kəl /

  1. The enlarged upper end of a flower stalk that bears the flower or group of flowers. The fleshy edible part of an apple is actually a modified receptacle.
  2. See more at flower


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Word History and Origins

Origin of receptacle1

1375–1425; Middle English (< Old French ) < Latin receptāculum reservoir, equivalent to receptā ( re ) to take again, receive back (frequentative of recipere to receive ) + -culum -cle 2

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Word History and Origins

Origin of receptacle1

C15: from Latin receptāculum a store-place, from receptāre to receive again, from recipere to receive

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Example Sentences

Which causes all of the caterpillars to fall out of the hedge and into your receptacles.

It looks at how people share information, and how sometimes we rely on others as being the information receptacle.

Inventions like the Lapee female urinal, a pink cubicle in which the user squats over an oval-shaped receptacle to relieve herself, can help gather this pure pee.

The hotel didn’t have any trash receptacles for the lobby and had to borrow some from a neighboring property that has been closed since the start of the pandemic.

Also, some form of trash receptacle would be welcomed, as we were often stumbling around our bag of trash and sticking it beneath the dinette table at night to avoid attracting animals.

The average reader, he declares, is but an unwitting receptacle for media narratives.

Thefacebook was nothing but a platform—a receptacle for the contributions of its users.

As a result, health reform has become a bottomless receptacle for a host of free-floating fears harbored by many Americans.

She was cast into a bare and miserable dungeon, in that subterranean receptacle of woe, where there was not even a bed.

In this shallow receptacle lay an oval miniature which the man took out and held under the strong light of the gas jet.

Strange that he should be thus happy in a receptacle of so much pain and sorrow; yet he was light-hearted as the son of a grandee.

The letter f marks a receptacle for water, which seems to have been used for moistening the bread while baking.

Ida, awakened by her movements, watched her as she produced a tiny packet from the last-mentioned receptacle.

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receptreceptible