acacia

noun

aca·cia | \ ə-ˈkā-shə

Definition of acacia

1 [ Middle English acacia, acacie "astringent gum made from the juice of green plums or sloes," borrowed from Anglo-French & Medieval Latin; Anglo-French acasie, acacie "juice of plums or sloes," borrowed from Medieval Latin acacia, going back to Latin "gum arabic" ] : gum arabic

2 : any of a large genus (Acacia) of leguminous shrubs and trees of warm regions with leaves pinnate or reduced to phyllodes and white or yellow flower clusters

Examples of acacia in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

By May 2021, those owners must completely remove 10 types of trees and plants including acacia, bamboo, cypress and juniper. — Kathleen Pender, SFChronicle.com, "Mill Valley on verge of adopting aggressive vegetation-removal ordinance," 9 Aug. 2019 In the Santa Cruz Mountains, the San Lorenzo Valley Water District board in 2017 agreed to allow limited use of glyphosate to protect sensitive Sand Hills watershed from invasive French broom and acacia. — John Woolfolk, The Mercury News, "Why are so many public agencies banning Roundup?," 19 July 2019 The flat expanse, dotted with acacia trees, is very different from the rest of the country's forests, where the mountain gorillas live. — Sophy Roberts, Condé Nast Traveler, "Rwanda Just Pulled Off the Largest Transport of Rhinos From Europe to Africa," 26 June 2019 Behind them, a lonely waterbuck hid in the shade of an acacia tree, near a regal grey crowned crane that pecked at the grass for bugs. — Benedict Moran, National Geographic, "Rwanda's war nearly destroyed this park. Now it's coming back.," 7 May 2019 The country is also the world’s biggest exporter of gum arabic, a sap that’s extracted from acacia trees and used in sodas and pharmaceuticals. — Mohammed Alamin And Mike Cohen | Bloomberg, Washington Post, "Why Protests Are Raging Against Sudan’s Leader," 6 Mar. 2019 The barrels were old, and made of chestnut and acacia rather than oak, woods that were traditionally used in the area. — Eric Asimov, New York Times, "From Campania’s Volcanic Soils, Whites in Multiple Colors," 31 May 2018 Chris Whittle is seated at a table in the Garden restaurant, with its bright green copse of African acacias, in the lobby of the Four Seasons hotel on 57th Street in New York City. — Sam Tanenhaus, Town & Country, "Can Chris Whittle Launch a Truly Global School?," 10 July 2018 Between the outcroppings lie swampy valleys, or vleis, fed by rainwater runoff and rich in acacias, mopanis, figs, euphorbias and other vegetation. — Joshua Hammer, New York Times, "A Birder’s Paradise in Zimbabwe," 18 Apr. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'acacia.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.