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Glite Dictionary
sweet reseda

sweet reseda

9.9
A Mediterranean plant with many flowers that have a strong scent
  • noun
translation icon : reseda dulce
  • The garden was filled with the strong fragrance of sweet reseda in the summer evening.

Examples

  • Many gardeners grow sweet reseda for its attractive, aromatic blossoms.

  • The sweet reseda attracted bees and butterflies to the flower beds.

  • The garden was filled with sweet reseda.

  • I love the smell of sweet reseda in the spring.

  • Many gardeners grow sweet reseda for its attractive, aromatic blossoms.

  • The sweet reseda attracted bees and butterflies to the flower beds.

  • The garden was filled with the strong fragrance of sweet reseda in the summer evening.

Synonyms

mignonette
vssweet reseda
  • Specialized
1 9.9

A small garden plant with many tiny, spicy-smelling flowers

is highly fragrant but lacks the spicy scent emphasis
Reseda odorata
vssweet reseda
  • Specialized
9.9

A Mediterranean plant with many small flowers that smell very sweet

is the common cultivated name used for the same plant
reseda
vssweet reseda
  • Specialized
9.9

A small flowering plant with sweet-smelling flowers

refers to one cultivated annual rather than the entire group

How Fragrant

sweet reseda
9.9
jasmine
51 2.7
lilac
26 1.6

Surface Forms

sweet reseda singular
sweet resedas plural

Morphology

sweet + reseda

The meaning is directly compositional: 'sweet' (pleasantly scented) simply modifies 'reseda' (a fragrant plant), yielding 'a reseda with a sweet fragrance.' This adjective+noun pattern is a standard, cross-linguistic modification pattern in English, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

Sweet reseda gets its name from gardeners who loved the plant's strong, pleasant smell. They called the flower reseda and added sweet to show its nice scent, so the name tells you it is a very fragrant plant.