Meanings
plural cheatgrasses
- countableuncountableBromus tectorum, drooping brome, native to Europe, thought to create an ecology prone to annual fires in many US areas
It took maybe nine or ten years more of westward drift, over the rolling prairie, through the cheatgrass, the sage grouse exploding skyward […]
2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage, published 2007, page 98
Synonyms & antonyms
nounannual or winter annual grass with softly hairy leaves of the Mediterranean
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
From cheat + grass (reputedly because farmers felt cheated when wheat yields were lower because of cheatgrass invading their fields).
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Chinese Mandarin 絹雀麥 /绢雀麦, 旱雀麥 /旱雀麦
- 絹雀麥 /绢雀麦 (juànquèmài)Bromus tectorum
- 旱雀麥 /旱雀麦 (hànquèmài)Bromus tectorum
Finnish kattokattara
- kattokattaraBromus tectorum
Cite this entry
cheatgrass. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cheatgrass
“cheatgrass.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cheatgrass. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “cheatgrass,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cheatgrass.
Source: cheatgrass on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.