Word of the Day Archive
Friday July 1, 2011
deciduous \dih-SIJ-oo-uhs\
, adjective:
1. Falling off or shed at a particular season, stage of growth, etc.
2. Shedding the leaves annually, as certain trees and shrubs.
3. Not permanent; transitory.
At last they discover that all which at first drew them together, - those once sacred features, that magical play of charms, - was deciduous, had a prospective end, like the scaffolding by which the house was built; and the purification of the intellect and the heart from year to year is the real marriage, foreseen and prepared from the first, and wholly above their conciousness.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson, Love & Friendship
Pine and fir trees kept their green while their deciduous brothers were a riot of color.
-- Crickett Starr, Violet Among the Roses
Deciduous derives from the Latin dēciduus, "tending to fall."
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for deciduous