cassava

noun cas·sa·va \ kə-ˈsä-və \

|Updated on: 8 Aug 2018

Definition of cassava

: any of several American plants (genus Manihot, especially M. esculenta) of the spurge family grown in the tropics for their edible tuberous roots which yield a nutritious starch; also : the root — compare tapioca 1

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Recent Examples of cassava from the Web

Addictive cassava flatbreads are toasted on the outside and soft on the inside.

— melanie reffes, USA TODAY, "Where to eat on the beach in the Caribbean," 8 June 2018
Attenborough relates his adventures of 60 years ago with typical British wit, as when he felt obliged to sample cassiri, a drink made from cassava bread assiduously pre-chewed by women in a Guyanan village.

— New York Times, "Don’t Try to Catch a Komodo Dragon — Unless You’re David Attenborough," 29 May 2018
In the 1980s, wasps were responsible for rescuing $2 billion of agricultural profits in Africa from a scourge of cassava mealybugs.

— katherine j. wu, Smithsonian, "Five Real Life Wasp Superpowers Not in Ant-Man and the Wasp," 22 Mar. 2018
Rescue teams search through the wreckage site of a Boeing 737 that plummeted into a cassava field with more than 100 passengers on board, in Havana, Cuba, Friday, May 18, 2018.

— Washington Post, "Officials say company in Cuba crash had safety complaints," 21 May 2018
Rescue teams search through the wreckage site of a Boeing 737 that plummeted into a cassava field with more than 100 passengers on board, in Havana, Cuba, Friday, May 18, 2018.

— Washington Post, "Officials say company in Cuba crash had safety complaints," 21 May 2018
The production of food—including cassava, maize and soy—has collapsed, local officials said.

— joe parkinson, WSJ, "Dwindling Farmland Sparks a Deadly Conflict in Nigeria," 27 May 2018
Rescue teams search through the wreckage site of a Boeing 737 that plummeted into a cassava field with more than 100 passengers on board, in Havana, Cuba, Friday, May 18, 2018.

— Washington Post, "Officials say company in Cuba crash had safety complaints," 21 May 2018
Firefighters rushed to extinguish the flames that engulfed the debris left where the jet hit the ground in a cassava field.

— andrea rodriguez and michael weissenstein, USA TODAY, "Cuba: 3 survivors in grave condition after airliner with 110 aboard crashes," 19 May 2018

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