Meanings
- not comparableNeedle-shaped; slender like a needle or bristle.
Near-synonyms: needlelike, pinlike
1 more example
1992, Oliver Sacks, Migraine, Berkeley: University of California Press, revised and expanded edition, Part 5, Chapter 17, p. 279, Sometimes these networks have an acicular or crystalline appearance, and may grow visibly, sometimes with sudden jerks, “like frost on a windowpane,” or “primitive plants.”
Synonyms: needlelike, pinlike
- not comparableHaving sharp points like needles.
- not comparablebiologyOf a leaf, slender and pointed, needle-like.
the acicular foliage of coniferous trees
1 more example
[…] though fond of foliage, their trees always had a tendency to congeal into little acicular thorn-hedges, and never tossed free.
1860, John Ruskin, chapter 3, in Modern Painters […], volume V, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], →OCLC, part VIII (Of Ideas of Relation:—I. Of Invention Formal.), page 189
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveNeedle-shaped; slender like a needle or bristle.
More synonyms by meaning
adjectivenarrow and long and pointed; as pine leaves
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinaciculāris
- Latinaciculāris
- Englishacicular
Borrowed from Latin aciculāris.
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian игловиден
- игловиден (igloviden)needle-shaped
Finnish neulamainen, piikikäs
- neulamainenneedle-shaped
- piikikäshaving sharp points
- neulasmainenbotany: needle-like
French aciculaire, aciculaire
- aciculaireneedle-shaped
- aciculairehaving sharp points
- aciculairebotany: needle-like
Greek βελονοειδής
- βελονοειδής (velonoeidís)needle-shaped
Hebrew מַחְטָנִי, מַחְטָנִי
- מַחְטָנִי (makhtaní)needle-shaped
- מַחְטָנִי (makhtaní)botany: needle-like
Portuguese acicular
- acicularneedle-shaped
Romanian acicular, acicular
- acicularneedle-shaped
- acicularbotany: needle-like
Russian игольчатый, игловидный
- игольчатый (igolʹčatyj)needle-shaped
- игловидный (iglovidnyj)needle-shaped
- остроконечный (ostrokonečnyj)having sharp points
- игольчатый (igolʹčatyj)botany: needle-like
Turkish iğnemsi, asiküler
- iğnemsineedle-shaped
- asikülerneedle-shaped
- sivrihaving sharp points
- asikülerhaving sharp points
- iğnemsibotany: needle-like
- asikülerbotany: needle-like
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with acicular
Cite this entry
acicular. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/acicular
“acicular.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/acicular. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “acicular,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/acicular.
Source: acicular on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.