wallflower
a person who, because of shyness, unpopularity, or lack of a partner, remains at the side at a party or dance.
any person, organization, etc., that remains on or has been forced to the sidelines of any activity: The firm was a wallflower in this year's bidding for government contracts.
any of several related plants of the genera Cheiranthus and Erysimum.
Origin of wallflower
1Words Nearby wallflower
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use wallflower in a sentence
Then plug-in candle warmers will be a quick transition—instead of using wallflower refills, you can use wax melts.
Potato-leek soup, sometimes a wallflower, turns into a talker at the table.
Glover Park Grill woos its neighborhood with all-American cooking | Tom Sietsema | March 12, 2021 | Washington PostSpecifically: the second it appeared in that trailer for The Perks of Being a wallflower.
Your Guide to the Grammys: 11 Songs to Listen to Before Sunday’s Awards | Kevin Fallon | January 26, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTBut Michele Bachmann, who has been a wallflower of late, may point the way to a more efficacious line of attack: crony capitalism.
On The Real Housewives of New York City, Alex McCord has morphed from wallflower to rabble-rouser.
The Real Housewives of New York City's Alex McCord Lets Loose | Nicole LaPorte | May 25, 2011 | THE DAILY BEAST
His anthology, On Film Festivals (wallflower Press), was published in 2009.
The legendary singer, who died Sunday, was no wallflower when it came to defending herself against racial slurs.
While the young folks dance, the old folks play wallflower or cards, or take snuff or punch, or talk politics.
A Changed Heart | May Agnes FlemingIt was a comical sight and Hopalong, the only wallflower besides Baum and the sheriff, laughed until he became weak.
Hopalong Cassidy's Rustler Round-Up | Clarence Edward MulfordAcross walls and floors the brambles trailed, and the yellow wallflower crowned the ruins of the stonework everywhere.
A King's Comrade | Charles WhistlerSnapdragon, wallflower, pansies, and hollyhocks are very easily grown from seed.
What Shall We Do Now?: Five Hundred Games and Pastimes | Dorothy Canfield FisherOur first species is the well-known wallflower (Cheiranthus cheiri), of the order Crucifer.
Field and Woodland Plants | William S. Furneaux
British Dictionary definitions for wallflower
/ (ˈwɔːlˌflaʊə) /
Also called: gillyflower a plant, Cheiranthus cheiri, of S Europe, grown for its clusters of yellow, orange, brown, red, or purple fragrant flowers and naturalized on old walls, cliffs, etc: family Brassicaceae (crucifers)
any of numerous other crucifers of the genera Cheiranthus and Erysimum, having orange or yellow flowers
informal a person who stays on the fringes of a dance or party on account of lacking a partner or being shy
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
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