Library / English Dictionary

BLOSSOM

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Reproductive organ of angiosperm plants especially one having showy or colorful parts

Synonyms:

bloom; blossom; flower

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Hypernyms ("blossom" is a kind of...):

reproductive structure (the parts of a plant involved in its reproduction)

Meronyms (parts of "blossom"):

stamen (the male reproductive organ of a flower)

pistil (the female ovule-bearing part of a flower composed of ovary and style and stigma)

carpel (a simple pistil or one element of a compound pistil)

ovary (the organ that bears the ovules of a flower)

floral leaf (a modified leaf that is part of a flower)

chlamys; floral envelope; perianth; perigone; perigonium (collective term for the outer parts of a flower consisting of the calyx and corolla and enclosing the stamens and pistils)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "blossom"):

floret; floweret (a diminutive flower (especially one that is part of a composite flower))

apetalous flower (flower having no petals)

inflorescence (the flowering part of a plant or arrangement of flowers on a stalk)

ray floret; ray flower (small flower with a flat strap-shaped corolla usually occupying the peripheral rings of a composite flower)

bud (a partially opened flower)

chrysanthemum (the flower of a chrysanthemum plant)

Holonyms ("blossom" is a part of...):

angiosperm; flowering plant (plants having seeds in a closed ovary)

Derivation:

blossom (produce or yield flowers)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The period of greatest prosperity or productivity

Synonyms:

bloom; blossom; efflorescence; flower; flush; heyday; peak; prime

Classified under:

Nouns denoting time and temporal relations

Hypernyms ("blossom" is a kind of...):

period; period of time; time period (an amount of time)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "blossom"):

golden age (a time period when some activity or skill was at its peak)

Derivation:

blossom (develop or come to a promising stage)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Develop or come to a promising stage

Example:

Youth blossomed into maturity

Synonyms:

blossom; blossom forth; blossom out; unfold

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "blossom" is one way to...):

develop (grow, progress, unfold, or evolve through a process of evolution, natural growth, differentiation, or a conducive environment)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s

Derivation:

blossom (the period of greatest prosperity or productivity)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Produce or yield flowers

Example:

The cherry tree bloomed

Synonyms:

bloom; blossom; flower

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "blossom" is one way to...):

develop (grow, progress, unfold, or evolve through a process of evolution, natural growth, differentiation, or a conducive environment)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "blossom"):

burst forth; effloresce (come into or as if into flower)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

blossom (reproductive organ of angiosperm plants especially one having showy or colorful parts)

Credits

 Context examples: 

It might be safely viewed with all its appendages of prosperity and beauty, its rich pastures, spreading flocks, orchard in blossom, and light column of smoke ascending.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

Orange blossom oil is used primarily for aromatherapy.

(Citrus sinensis Flower Oil, NCI Thesaurus)

So the months followed one another, and first the trees budded in the woods, and soon the green branches grew thickly intertwined, and then the blossoms began to fall.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

There was everywhere a bewildering mass of fruit blossom—apple, plum, pear, cherry; and as we drove by I could see the green grass under the trees spangled with the fallen petals.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

The formation of high-mass X-ray binaries is a natural consequence of such blossoming star birth as some of the young massive stars, which often form in pairs, evolve into these systems.

(Chandra Samples Galactic Goulash, NASA)

The chemical processes that influence biodiversity by stimulating the sprouting and blossoming of plants, fruiting and seed dispersal, are regulated partly by fires.

(Fire control harms biodiversity in Brazilian savannah, SciDev.Net)

Winter, spring, and summer passed away during my labours; but I did not watch the blossom or the expanding leaves—sights which before always yielded me supreme delight—so deeply was I engrossed in my occupation.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Like silver, he thought to himself, like tinkling silver bells; and on the instant, and for an instant, he was transported to a far land, where under pink cherry blossoms, he smoked a cigarette and listened to the bells of the peaked pagoda calling straw-sandalled devotees to worship.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

The vegetation had again changed, and only the vegetable ivory tree remained, with a great profusion of wonderful orchids, among which I learned to recognize the rare Nuttonia Vexillaria and the glorious pink and scarlet blossoms of Cattleya and odontoglossum.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Thirteen winters' revolving frosts had seen her opening every ball of credit which a scanty neighbourhood afforded, and thirteen springs shewn their blossoms, as she travelled up to London with her father, for a few weeks' annual enjoyment of the great world.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)