Skip to main content
Dahlia

Dahlia

1 4.6
A garden plant with bright flowers made of many petals
  • noun
  • /ˈdæl.i.ə/
  • Specialized
translation icon : dalia
  • So before I start on dinner, can I just show you this dahlia that I planted in the garden?
  • Dahlia blooms
  • dahlia flower
  • dahlia garden

Over a century ago, newspaper editor William Allen White advised women to raise more hell and fewer dahlias.

Examples

  • Dahlias and sunflowers turn quietly toward the September moon that sails up over a pale blue sky with a lingering splash of rose in it.

    Academic text (2003)
  • Wicker chairs, painted deep brown, almost black, form a circle around the low table where a cigarette in an ashtray burns alone beside a vase full of red dahlias.

    Fiction book (1995)
  • Happy to report that our dahlias are in fact coming back.

  • OK, you can see the dahlias section right here.

  • The dahlias are so pretty.

  • The dahlias were blooming in the ground as if they were welcoming her.

  • Dahlias are my favorite.

  • The most common flowers were dahlias, chrysanthemums, and geraniums, valued for their showy colorfulness.

    Academic text (2004)
  • "The pavements were crammed with Saturday-afternoon shoppers, the municipal gardens bright with dahlias.

    Fiction book (1990)
  • Did you know that the dahlia is the national flower of Mexico?

Compounds

Dahlia pinnata
  • Specialized
7.3

A garden plant with large bright flowers grown for decoration

A garden plant with one large bright flower on each stalk grown for decoration

Surface Forms

Dahlia singular
Dahlias plural

Etymology

Dahlia is named for a Swedish plant scientist called Dahl (Anders Dahl), so a helpful way to remember it is as 'Dahl's flower'. That's why the name now refers to the bright garden flower we grow today.