Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Arranged in or consisting of sets or groups of three, as a compound leaf with three leaflets.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Arranged in threes; characterized by an arrangement of parts by threes; in botany, used especially of a compound leaf with three leaflets, or of leaves whorled in threes. If the three divisions of a ternate leaf are subdivided into three leaflets each, the leaf is biternate, and a still further subdivision produces a triternate leaf. See also cut of Thalictrum, under leaf.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Having the parts arranged by threes.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. (of a leaf shape) consisting of three leaflets or sections
Etymologies
- New Latin ternātus, from Medieval Latin, past participle of ternāre, treble, from Latin ternī, three each; see tern2. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“(Moreton Bay chesnut), a fine species of SARCOCEPHALUS, and a large spreading tree belonging to the natural order RUTACEAE, with ternate leaves, axillary panicles of white flowers, about the size of those of BORONIA PINNATA.”
“This was the al - ternate season when the western clans came to the caves.”
“Democritus (fifth century B.C.), from their approach, made Non-Being into an appellation for space, to al - ternate with, or be a replacement for kenon.”
“Sterile segment sessile above the middle of the plant, broadly triangular, thin, membranaceous, ternate.”
The Fern Lover's Companion A Guide for the Northeastern States and Canada
“Fronds broadly triangular, ternate, one to three feet high or more, the widely spreading branches twice pinnate, the lower pinnules more or less pinnátifid.”
The Fern Lover's Companion A Guide for the Northeastern States and Canada
“Fronds glabrous, broadly triangular, ternate, four to seven inches broad, the divisions widely spreading, each division pinnate at the base.”
The Fern Lover's Companion A Guide for the Northeastern States and Canada
“Its ternate character is shown even in the uncoiling of the fronds, the three round balls suggesting the sign of the pawnbroker.”
The Fern Lover's Companion A Guide for the Northeastern States and Canada
“Leafy or sterile segment triangular, ternate, long-petioled, springing from near the base of the plant, and spreading horizontally.”
The Fern Lover's Companion A Guide for the Northeastern States and Canada
“Rootstock slender and creeping from which fronds are produced all summer, in appearance like the small, ternate divisions of the bracken.”
The Fern Lover's Companion A Guide for the Northeastern States and Canada
“Steinheil has also recorded a _Cerastium_ in which one of the leaves was provided with two midribs; above this leaf was a group of ternate leaves.”
Vegetable Teratology An Account of the Principal Deviations from the Usual Construction of Plants
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘ternate’.
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Something I -ate
Words in which the "-ate" suffix is used to mean "having," "resembling," "-like."
roseate, acaudate, lyrate, pinnate, acerate, falcate, pedunculate, petiolate, oblate, tessellate, spatulate, fimbriate and 158 more...
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Verba Dilecta
delectable, notate, pauciloquy, paucity, pauciloquent, paucify, interscapilium, uropygium, inferna, nota, equipollent, prepollent and 677 more...
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1800 Woodcuts by Thomas Bewick and Hi...
Bizarre stuff found there. Note that archaic terms are occasionally not spelled the way we spell them today; in these cases I've tried to link to the modernized spelling (where known) on the word p...
musk-bull, urus, zebu, cameleopard, ratel, suricate, wombach, saragoy, murine, ternate, coach dog, comforter and 91 more...
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Words that make you go hmmmm...
Interesting words you probably won't hear in your day-to-day.
maxwell, mooncalf, quagga, glaikit, musquash, lingam, haruspex, qindarka, chthonic, ipomoea, azimuthal, valuta and 304 more...
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ramages
names of trees and bushes and other asundry items that name branching
juniper, pinon, tamarind, ponderosa pine, douglas fir, locust, sycamore, cottonwood, mountain mahogany, blue spruce, cedar, aspen and 76 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for ternate.
chained_bear Seen here.
Interestingly, when I went googling for that image, I found that THIS page ranked higher than that one. Six hours after I posted the word. Power of Wordie! Aug 25, 2008
chained_bear Looking through 1800 Woodcuts by Thomas Bewick and His School, and found an image called "Ternate Bat." The image has it standing up looking rather like Dracul himself. But in a cute, bat-sy sort of way. Aug 25, 2008