Word of the Day
: January 8, 2016rugose
playWhat It Means
1 : full of wrinkles
2 : having the veinlets sunken and the spaces between elevated
rugose in Context
The leaves of the plant are dark green and rugose.
"I lost no time in asking directions of a stooped crone shuffling along the sleepy sidewalk, who turned her rugose visage towards me and shouted in a coarse and idiomatic form of French…." — John A. Minahan, The Providence (Rhode Island) Journal, 23 Aug. 2015
Did You Know?
Rugose was borrowed into English in the 15th century from the Latin adjective rugosus ("wrinkled"), which itself derives from ruga ("wrinkle"). One descendant of ruga that you'll probably recognize is corrugate, which initially meant "to form or shape into wrinkles or folds" (as in "corrugated cardboard"). Another, which might be more familiar to scientists, is rugulose, meaning "finely wrinkled." In addition, there is the noun rugosity, which can refer to either the quality or state of being full of wrinkles or to an individual wrinkled place. Rugose is most commonly encountered in technical contexts, but it's also found occasionally in literary contexts, as in our quote above, from the second-place winner in an H. P. Lovecraft short story contest in The Providence Journal.
Test Your Vocabulary with M-W Quizzes
Test Your Memory
Fill in the blank in this sentence from our December 11th Word of the Day: "Samuel sometimes mentions that he would like to go back to school, but his interest strikes me as more of a ________ than a firm statement of purpose."
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