sweet white violet
- noun
- US
- The forest floor was dotted with delicate sweet white violet blossoms in early spring.
Examples
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We spotted several sweet white violet plants growing along the shady creek bank.
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The sweet white violet blooms beautifully in the spring.
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She collected a bouquet of sweet white violet for the botanical class.
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I found a sweet white violet in the garden.
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The forest floor was dotted with delicate sweet white violet blossoms in early spring.
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We spotted several sweet white violet plants growing along the shady creek bank.
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She collected a bouquet of sweet white violet for the botanical class.
Synonyms
27
1.0
A small flower with leaves shaped like hearts and purple petals
1
5.2
A group of small flowering plants that include violets and pansies
1
6.8
A small plant with white flowers often showing thin purple lines
A small wild violet with white flowers, purple lines, short stems, and a sweet smell
A small flowering plant with white fragrant flowers and purple veins that grows in shady eastern North American forests
How Showy
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly and compositionally derived from 'sweet' (fragrant) + 'white' (color) + 'violet' (the plant), so a B1 learner who knows the constituents can infer it denotes a white violet with a pleasant scent. This straightforward adjective-adjective-noun combination follows common cross-linguistic descriptive patterns and requires no idiomatic or metaphorical knowledge.
Etymology
Sweet white violet is a name that comes from the plant's look and smell: the flower is a small violet that is white and smells sweet. So the name means 'a low-growing plant with pleasant-smelling white flowers'.