flowering
flowering — verb
- floweringpresent simple I / you / we / they
- flowerings3rd person singular
- floweringing-ing form
- floweringedpast simple
1. to grow into a fuller, clearer form so that people can see its real quality or s
to grow into a fuller, clearer form so that people can see its real quality or shape.
After months of practice, Zayd's drawing style began flowering into its own look.
flower into + a fuller result
By the second year, the small club was flowering into a serious music group.
Nia's quiet interest in history soon flowered into a plan for museum work.
abstract subject + flower into + plan
What started as a school project flowered into a successful neighborhood business.
- flower into confidence
- flower into a business
- flower into a movement
- flower into a career
Grammar Patterns
[idea/talent] + flowers
flower into + [full result]
Usage Note
Often used for talent, ideas, movements, or relationships rather than physical objects. A common pattern is flower into + a later result.
Common Mistakes
2. of a plant, to grow blossoms on its stems or branches.
of a plant, to grow blossoms on its stems or branches.
The cherry tree flowers for only two weeks each spring.
plant subject + flowers
These desert plants flower after the first heavy summer rain.
Minh's balcony herbs flower best in the warm morning sun.
flower best in + growing condition
If you move the pot indoors, the orchid may not flower this year.
- flower in spring
- flower after rain
- flower well
- flower late
- bloom
the most common everyday alternative
- blossom
slightly more literary and often suggests beauty
- come into flower
a longer phrase often used in gardening or nature writing
- wither
describes the plant weakening or drying instead of producing blossoms
Grammar Patterns
[plant] + flowers
flower in + [season]
Usage Note
Used for plants and similar living things that naturally grow blossoms. It is normally intransitive, with the plant itself as the subject.
Common Mistakes
flowering — noun
1. the stage in which a plant is carrying open blossoms.
the stage in which a plant is carrying open blossoms.
The farm is busiest during the lavender flowering in early June.
during + plant flowering
Bees returned during the apple trees' flowering at the edge of the field.
Researchers compare the flowering of wild orchids from year to year.
the flowering of + plant
Late frost can shorten the peach trees' flowering by several days.
- peak flowering
- spring flowering
- early flowering
- flowering season
- bloom
shorter and more everyday, especially outside technical writing
- blossoming
stresses the process of blossoms appearing
- bloom season
plain phrase often used for gardens and tourism
- dormancy
the resting period when a plant is not actively producing growth
Grammar Patterns
during flowering
the flowering of + [plant]
Usage Note
Common in gardening, farming, and biology. It often appears with of + a plant name or with a plant noun in the possessive form.
Common Mistakes
2. the stage when an activity, culture, or civilization is at its richest and most
the stage when an activity, culture, or civilization is at its richest and most successful point.
Many historians place the city's flowering in the decades before the war.
the flowering of a place or culture
The museum explores the flowering of jazz clubs along the river.
That poet wrote most of her best work during the flowering of modernism.
during the flowering of + movement
Faisal studied the flowering of local science after the new university opened.
- the flowering of art
- the flowering of science
- cultural flowering
- artistic flowering
- heyday
everyday and slightly informal for a period of greatest success
- peak
broader and more neutral, often used outside cultural topics
- golden age
stresses lasting importance or excellence across a period
- decline
the stage when quality, power, or success is falling
Grammar Patterns
the flowering of + [activity/culture]
during the flowering of + [movement]
Usage Note
Most often used in discussions of history, art, thought, and public life. It usually points to a high point, not just the beginning of growth.
Common Mistakes
flowering — adjective
- floweringpositive
- more floweringcomparative
- most floweringsuperlative
1. describing a plant that grows flowers as part of its normal life cycle.
describing a plant that grows flowers as part of its normal life cycle.
The nursery keeps flowering shrubs near the front gate in spring.
flowering + shrub/plant noun
We replaced the grass with flowering plants that attract butterflies.
Yuki bought a flowering vine for the wall beside her mailbox.
The guide separates flowering herbs from leafy kitchen plants.
classifies plant type
- flowering shrub
- flowering tree
- flowering plant
- flowering vine
- blooming
close in meaning, but often highlights the flowers currently showing
- blossoming
slightly more literary and often more visual
- floral
broader and often design-related, not specifically about a living plant
- nonflowering
used for plants that do not produce flowers
Grammar Patterns
flowering + plant
flowering + shrub/tree/vine
Usage Note
Usually comes before a plant noun and classifies what kind of plant it is. Unlike sense 2, it does not mainly focus on a showy mass of blossoms at one moment.
Common Mistakes
2. filled or covered with blossoms so that flowers are the main thing you notice.
filled or covered with blossoms so that flowers are the main thing you notice.
A flowering hedge, heavy with white blossoms, lined the path to Brandon's grandparents' house.
flowering + visible landscape feature
After the rain, the market square smelled sweet beneath flowering baskets.
Felix stopped the car beside a flowering hillside glowing pink above the lake.
The hotel balcony overlooked a flowering courtyard filled with pink roses.
appearance-focused use
- flowering hedge
- flowering hillside
- flowering courtyard
- flowering baskets
- blooming
everyday and often used for something currently covered in flowers
- blossom-covered
more explicit about being covered across the surface
- flowery
can describe floral appearance, though it often also means decorated with flower patterns
- bare
suggests the place or object has no flowers on show
Grammar Patterns
flowering + place/object
flowering + hedge/hillside/courtyard
Usage Note
This sense describes the visible look of a place or object at that time. Unlike sense 1, it focuses on how covered in blossoms something appears, not on plant type.
Common Mistakes
Word family
Synonym discussion
Sense: verb/2
For plants, flower is a neutral verb meaning simply to produce blossoms. Bloom is the most common everyday alternative and often sounds a little more natural in casual speech, especially when people are describing what they can see in a garden. Blossom is slightly more literary and often adds a sense of beauty or fullness, so it is common in poetic description. Come into flower is longer and more descriptive, and gardeners often use it when they want to stress the moment a plant starts showing blossoms. So a guidebook might say that desert lilies flower after rain, a visitor may say the roses are blooming, and a nature writer may describe a valley as blossoming after winter.
Etymology
Flowering is built from flower plus the ending -ing. Flower came into English through Old French from Latin flos, meaning a blossom. The -ing form can work as a verb form, a noun for a period or process, and an adjective that describes plants or places connected with blossoms.
First known use
1592
1592, in the meaning defined at sense 2 Noun