tumbleweed

noun

tum·​ble·​weed ˈtəm-bəl-ˌwēd 

: a plant (such as Russian thistle or any of several amaranths) that breaks away from its roots in the autumn and is driven about by the wind as a light rolling mass

Examples of tumbleweed in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The Bissell CleanView Swivel Pet Reach is built to tackle tumbleweeds of fur and mystery crumbs with surprising grace—thanks to a tangle-preventing brush roll and a wand that pops free for those hard-to-reach corners (or the perpetual dust colony behind your sofa). —Bailey Berg, Architectural Digest, 8 Oct. 2025

Does one just neglect the laundry, fur ball tumbleweeds from my winter-coat-shedding pup, and the cloudy glass shower door? —Patricia Shannon, Southern Living, 1 Oct. 2025

Wind speeds on Mars are high enough to blow fleets of large spherical rovers that resemble tumbleweed across the Red Planet's surface, according to new wind-tunnel tests of small prototypes conducted by an international consortium of young scientists. —Keith Cooper, Space.com, 30 Sep. 2025

My savings were dwindling, and there were tumbleweeds blowing through my business savings account. —Essence, 23 Sep. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1858, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for tumbleweed

• aniseed
• centipede
• cottonseed
• disagreed
• ganymede
• guaranteed
• intercede
• overspeed
• pedigreed
• refereed
• supercede
• supersede

Kids Definition

tumbleweed

noun

tum·​ble·​weed ˈtəm-bəl-ˌwēd 

: a plant that breaks away from its roots in autumn and is blown about by the wind