Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Falling off or shed at a specific season or stage of growth: deciduous antlers; deciduous leaves; deciduous teeth.
- adj. Shedding or losing foliage at the end of the growing season: deciduous trees.
- adj. Not lasting; ephemeral.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Falling or liable to fall, especially after a definite period of time; not perennial or permanent.
- Specifically— In botany: Falling off at maturity or at the end of the season, as petals, leaves, fruit, etc.: in distinction from fugacious or caducous organs, which fall soon after their appearance, and from persistent or permanent, or, as applied to leaves, from evergreen. Losing the foliage every year: as, deciduous trees.
- In zoology: Falling off at a certain stage of an animal's existence, as the hair, horns, and teeth of certain animals. Losing certain parts regularly and periodically, or at certain stages or ages: as, a deciduous insect.
Wiktionary
- adj. Describing a part that falls off, or is shed, at a particular time or stage of development.
- adj. Of or pertaining to trees which lose their leaves in winter or the dry season.
- adj. transitory, ephemeral, not lasting
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Falling off, or subject to fall or be shed, at a certain season, or a certain stage or interval of growth, as leaves (except of evergreens) in autumn, or as parts of animals, such as hair, teeth, antlers, etc.; also, shedding leaves or parts at certain seasons, stages, or intervals
WordNet 3.0
- adj. (of plants and shrubs) shedding foliage at the end of the growing season
- adj. (of teeth, antlers, etc.) being shed at the end of a period of growth
Etymologies
- From Latin dēciduus, from dēcidere, to fall off : dē-, de- + cadere, to fall; see kad- in Indo-European roots.
Examples
“This endemic plant is located in deciduous woodlands in the eastern area.”
“Marmosa is very well adapted to dry habitats, and is mainly found in deciduous forest.”
“Because they shed their leaves every autumn and are furnished with a new set in the spring: 'deciduous' is Latin for 'falling off.”
“Azaleas 2010-deciduous, that is « Fairegarden”
“The spiny thicket or "spiny desert" of southern Madagascar, also referred to as deciduous thicket, is a globally distinctive ecoregion.”
“The vegetation is characterized as deciduous or semi-deciduous due to seasonal drought and can be considered a homogeneous arboreal mass that is quite dense.”
“Those of the first set appear in childhood, and are called the deciduous or milk teeth.”
“OK, here's the answer: Baby teeth are correctly referred to as deciduous teeth.”
“It is surrounded on all sides with an assemblage of every kind of deciduous plants.”
The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 2 Books 4, 5, 6 and 7
“On either side are lofty mountains, their peaks wrapped in snow, their sides clothed with pine, and their feet covered with forests, in which is to be found almost every kind of deciduous tree.”
Forty-one years in India From Subaltern To Commander-In-Chief
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘deciduous’.
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abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4084 more...
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*array, collecti...naked bud, leaf blade, brochidodromous, serrate, cork cambium, rhizomatous, flower stalk, deciduous sepal, petal, whorl, nectar gland, stamen and 1093 more...
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flabbergasted, discombobulated, inclination, serendipity, savvy, profound, incarnation, myriad, confiscate, audacity, deciduous, adieu and 79 more...
Charnell mack Since the rate of decomposition is higher in deciduous than in coniferous forests nitrogen is probably more available in deciduous forests, further increasing production(dictionary) Sep 23, 2010