orchidaceous

adjective

or·​chi·​da·​ceous ˌȯr-kə-ˈdā-shəs 

1

: of, relating to, or resembling the orchids

2

: showy, ostentatious

Did you know?

In its sense first used by botanists in the 1830s, orchidaceous means "belonging to the family Orchidaceae"-that is, to the orchid family, a very large family of flowering plants. While the basic shape of an orchid is simple-three petals with, on many orchids, an enlarged middle petal-there is no such thing as a typical orchid. Orchids range in size from very tiny flowers on inch-high plants to flowers a foot across, and they grow in habitats from tropical rain forests to semideserts. But when people use orchidaceous as a synonym for "flashy" in phrases like "orchidaceous writing," "orchidaceous colors," and "orchidaceous ladies," it's the colorful, showy tropical species they have in mind-species which, as Jacob Breynius, a 17th-century German botanist, put it, "surely excite our greatest admiration."

Examples of orchidaceous in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Fantastical sets and costumes by Geoffrey Holder combine orchidaceous foliage out of a Henri Rousseau jungle with a Levantine hero and a Japanese villain. — The New Yorker, 19 Feb. 2021

Stefano and Domenico looked to Donna Floria’s orchidaceous Belle Epoque beauty and famous clothes for aspects of their alta moda collection. — Hamish Bowles, Vogue, 11 July 2017

Word History

Etymology

New Latin Orchidaceae, family name (re-formation of earlier Orchideae, from orchid-, erroneously taken as the stem of Latin orchis "orchid" + -eae, feminine plural of Latin -eus -eous) + -ous — more at orchis

First Known Use

1838, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for orchidaceous

• diatomaceous
• unostentatious
• arenaceous
• argillaceous
• carbonaceous
• contumacious
• coriaceous
• efficacious
• farinaceous
• foliaceous
• membranaceous
• ochraceous

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