ambrosia
/æmˈbɹoʊʒə/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 2.65 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
3
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
An annual herb historically used medicinally and in cooking, Dysphania botrys.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
A mixture of nectar and pollen prepared by worker bees and fed to larvae.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
Any fungus of a number of species that insects such as ambrosia beetles carry as symbionts, "farming" them on poor-quality food such as wood, where they grow, providing food for the insect.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
A dessert originating in the Southern United States made of shredded coconuts and tropical fruits such as pineapples and oranges; some recipes also include ingredients such as marshmallow and cream.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "He had a most intense admiration of female loveliness, and looked upon woman as a kind of super-angelic being, whose food should be the ambrosiæ and nectar of the gods, and whose garments the spotless white of vestal purity."
- "A favorite. It’s refreshing now and will evolve into golden ambrosia with age. […] The dessert wines of the Loire Valley and AJsace also deserve recognition. From the Anjou area of the Loire come the ambrosiae of Savennières, Bonnezeaux, and Quarts de Chaume."
- "Their disease does not appear before August. At this time, throughout the entire United States one could say, not only in every field, in every meadow and in every forest, but even in the largest cities, there blooms the ambrosiæ, which are commonly known as ragweed; […]"
- "Fig. 1.—Spiculated pollens of ragweeds (ambrosias) low in protein. […] In the cocklebur (Xanthium americanum) and the rough wild elder (Iva ciliata), the spicules are shorter, being 0.7 and 0.5 microns, and the reaction is proportionately less active than with the ragweeds (ambrosias). […] While the grass pollens have so light a coat that they are frequently crushed in the ordinary process of mounting, the ragweed (ambrosias) pollen grains resist pressure between two glass slides carried to the point of crushing the glass."
- "Dr. William Scheppergrell,^([sic – meaning Scheppegrell]) in Public Health Reports, states that the common and giant ragweeds (ambrosias), which are the principal causes of hay fever in the Eastern States, do not grow so abundantly in the West, and that the pollens of other plants, notably the wormwoods (artemisias), are the exciting causes of hay fever in the Pacific and Mountain States. […] [quoting Scheppegrell] The most important hay-fever weeds of the Pacific and Mountain States, and which give the most severe reaction, are the wormwoods (artemisias). While their pollen is not produced in the same profusion as that of the ragweeds (ambrosias), they give a marked hay-fever reaction which in some species is five times as active as that of the ragweed (ambrosia)."
- "Section G: The Collector’s corner, Mrs. J. R. Cowan, blue, for her ambrosiae."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *né Proto-Indo-European *n̥- Proto-Indo-European *mer- Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Indo-European *mr̥tós Proto-Indo-European *n̥mr̥tós Proto-Hellenic *ə́mrətos Ancient Greek ᾰ̓́μβροτος (ắmbrotos) Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-i-eh₂ Proto-Hellenic *-íā Ancient Greek -ῐ́ᾱ (-ĭ́ā) Ancient Greek ᾰ̓μβροσῐ́ᾱ (ămbrosĭ́ā)der. Latin ambrosialbor. English ambrosia From Latin ambrosia (“food of the gods”), from Ancient Greek ἀμβροσία (ambrosía, “immortality”), from ἄμβροτος (ámbrotos, “immortal”), from ἀ- (a-, “not”) + βροτός (brotós, “mortal”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /æmˈbɹoʊʒə/