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nodding

nodding

3.7
A plant part that bends down, like a flower head
  • adjective
  • /ˈnɑːdɪŋ/
translation icon : cabeceante
  • The garden was full of flowers with nodding heads, gently swaying in the breeze.

Examples

  • As the storm approached, the trees had their nodding branches, weighed down by the rain.

  • See a lot of nodding heads and you can spend so much time on one piece that you don't get to the other pieces.

  • He said by the twinkle in his eye and the nodding of his head.

  • And OK, I've got a lot of nodding heads here, so I think I'm saying unsafe ground.

  • So but it's it's being around people that when I talk to someone about my problems, they're a nodding head and not a that's that's not good.

  • So but it's, it's being around people that when I talk to someone about my problems, they're a nodding head and not a that's, that's not good.

  • The artist painted a scene with nodding sunflowers, their heads drooping toward the ground.

Synonyms

pendulous
vsnodding
1 7.7

Hangs down loosely, like branches or flower stems

focuses on general bending rather than loose free hanging
cernuous
vsnodding
  • Specialized
9.9

Bending or hanging down like plant stems and flower heads

is the general description used for the same bending or drooping plant parts
weeping
vsnodding
4.1

Having long branches that hang down like a willow tree

describes bending downward without implying grace or elegance
drooping
vsnodding
3.5

Hanging down because it is weak or not held up

means simple bending downward rather than implying tiredness or weakness
reflexed
vsnodding
  • Specialized
9.1

A leaf or petal bent sharply downward and outward

bends downward without turning outward at a wide angle

Compounds

A person you know only a little and greet with a nod

A plant with bent stalks and small yellow flower clusters that grows in wet places in the southwestern United States

8.5

A wild North American plant with a small onion bulb and drooping white or pink flowers

A spiny plant with soft white leaves and drooping red flower heads

A wild onion plant with drooping white to pink flowers

How Droopy

drooping
3.5
nodding
3.7
hanging
26 1.1
leaning
4.2
erect
17 4.0

Surface Forms

nodding positive

Morphology

nodding = nod (transparent) = nod + ing

Adjectival use is a regular present-participle formation from the verb 'nod' with the productive suffix '-ing'; the sense 'bending/drooping' is a natural extension of the verb.

Etymology

The word nodding comes from the simple verb nod, which means 'to move the head up and down'. Imagine a flower bending forward as if it is nodding, and you can see why nodding means 'bending or drooping downward'.