water lily

noun

: any of various aquatic plants (especially genera Nymphaea and Nuphar of the family Nymphaeaceae, the water-lily family) with floating leaves and usually showy flowers

broadly : an aquatic plant (such as a water hyacinth) with showy flowers

Examples of water lily in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Likewise, there are multiple beetles named after The Beatles as a group or after their individual members, and a fossil species of water lilies is named after Claude Monet, famous for his water lily paintings. —Eva Amsen, Forbes.com, 15 May 2025

Crushed and mixed with wine, the root of water lilies was used by monks and nuns for hundreds of years as an anaphrodisiac. —Soo Kim, MSNBC Newsweek, 1 May 2025

Great blue herons watched me from behind banks of water lilies. —Stanley Stewart, Travel + Leisure, 17 Mar. 2025

Both Rick and Chelsea end up floating among the White Lotus’s water lilies, killed by Rick’s refusal to recognize the good things he’s had right in front of his face. —Kathryn Vanarendonk, Vulture, 7 Apr. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for water lily

• microvilli
• piccadilly
• bacilli
• tranquilly
• billie
• billy
• chilli
• chilly
• dilly
• filly
• frilly
• gillie

Kids Definition

water lily

noun

: any of a family of water plants with rounded floating leaves and usually showy flowers