pickleweed

noun

pick·​le·​weed ˈpi-kəl-ˌwēd How to pronounce pickleweed (audio)
: any of several succulent plants having leaves often reduced to scales or sheaths: such as
a
b
: a shrub (Allenrolfea occidentalis) of the goosefoot family growing in moist saline soils of the southwestern U.S.

Examples of pickleweed in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web The recipe calls for ingredients like East Bay pickleweed, also referred to as sea beans, which can be found at specialty grocers like Berkeley Bowl and select Whole Foods locations. Krista Simmons, Sunset Magazine, 6 Apr. 2023 If left unmanaged, pickleweed would quickly dominate these wetlands, which happen to be an important breeding ground for Hawaiian stilts, a leggy shorebird and one of the 11 endangered species that calls this base home. Ashley Stimpson, Popular Mechanics, 31 Aug. 2022 As heat and drought set in, the freshwater dried up and forced the ancients to survive by plucking tiny seeds from desert shrubs called pickleweed. The Salt Lake Tribune, 30 Nov. 2020 The land transitions from muddy carpet for tiptoeing egrets to a rippling watery habitat at high tide studded with mounds of native grasses and pickleweed. Julie Johnson, San Francisco Chronicle, 29 Oct. 2021 Native plants like the Pacific cordgrass and pickleweed provide the muscle for sea level rise adaptation, said John Callaway, a wetlands restoration ecologist at the University of San Francisco. Julie Johnson, San Francisco Chronicle, 29 Oct. 2021 Yet until recently, sea beans, which belong to the genus Salicornia and are also known as samphire, glasswort, pickleweed, and sea asparagus, had never figured prominently in Charleston’s storied culinary traditions. Caroline Hatchett, Smithsonian Magazine, 12 Mar. 2021 Water slowly snakes inland to flood the ground peppered with plugs of native pickleweed seeds, and ducks dive for emerging aquatic bugs. National Geographic, 13 June 2017

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'pickleweed.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1925, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of pickleweed was circa 1925

Dictionary Entries Near pickleweed

Cite this Entry

“Pickleweed.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pickleweed. Accessed 29 Apr. 2024.

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!