Word.ws English Dictionary

cactus

UK/ˈkæktəs//ˈkæktəs/

cactus noun: any member of the family Cactaceae, a family of flowering New World succulent plants suited to a hot, semi-desert climate.

cactus: any member of the family Cactaceae, a family of flowering New World succulent plants suited to a...
Image: Tomascastelazo, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

cactus (plural cacti or cactuses or cactusses or cactus)

  1. Any member of the family Cactaceae, a family of flowering New World succulent plants suited to a hot, semi-desert climate.
    • On the mountains a few junipers and piñons are found, and cactuses, agave, and yuccas, low, fleshy plants with bayonets and thorns.1895, J[ohn] W[esley] Powell, chapter I, in Canyons of the Colorado, Meadville, PA: Flood & Vincent; republished as The Exploration of the Colorado River and Its Canyons, New York: Dover, 1961...
    • This was another experimental garden started under Dr. Berry as a ‘Nopalry’ or place for the rearing of the cochineal insect on cacti, which however, became a sort of experimental garden where exotic plants were received as they arrived in the Port of Madras and were nursed and looked after until...1960, A. K. Yegna Narayan Aiyer, P. Abraham, Cultivation of Cloves in India (I.C.A.R. Bulletin), New Delhi: Indian Council of Agricultural Research, →OCLC, page 5
  2. Any succulent plant with a thick fleshy stem bearing spines but no leaves, such as euphorbs.
  3. (broadly) A vivid green color inspired by the color of cacti.

Adjective

cactus (not comparable)

  1. (Australia, New Zealand, slang) Non-functional, broken, exhausted, dead.
    • I wouldn't mind throwing it away if it's cactus except for the VCR part which works fine, so then I'd be up for a new VCR as well.2001 July 8, Dave, “TV Problems”, in aus.electronics (Usenet)
    • I would say it's cactus. Water conducts & destroys components & PCBs very easily. Hence the water-resistant phones.2004 August 25, AC, “water damage ???”, in alt.cellular.nokia (Usenet)
    Synonyms:
    kaput

Proper noun capitalized: Cactus

Cactus

  1. A city in Texas.
  2. An unincorporated community in California.

cactus meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

cactus in Hindi

member of the Cactaceae
कैक्टस kaikṭas, नागफनी nāgaphnī

cactus in Tamil

member of the Cactaceae
கள்ளி kaḷḷi

cactus in Marathi

cactus
निवडुंग nivḍuṅga

cactus in Urdu

member of the Cactaceae
کیکٹس kaikṭas
More languagesFewer languages
cactus in Bengali
ক্যাকটাস, ক্যাক্টাস
cactus in Telugu
కాక్టస్, క్యాక్టస్, కేక్టస్
cactus in Malayalam
കള്ളിമുൾച്ചെടി kaḷḷimuḷcceṭi
cactus in Kannada
ಕಳ್ಳಿ kaḷḷi
cactus in Punjabi
ਥੋਹਰ thohar
cactus in Gujarati
થોર thŏr
cactus in Odia
କାକ୍ଟସ୍, କ୍ଯ଼ାକ୍ଟସ୍, କାକ୍ଟସ
cactus in Nepali
क्याक्टस, कैक्टस, केक्टस
cactus in Pashto
کیکټس
cactus in Tagalog
kakto, kaktus
cactus in Arabic
صَبَّار ṣabbār
cactus in Malay
kaktus
cactus in Persian
صباره خنجری
cactus in Thai
ตะบองเพชร dtà-bɔɔng-pét, กระบองเพชร grà-bɔɔng-pét
cactus in Vietnamese
xương rồng
Sindhi
ڪئٽسڪ kṭsk

Examples of cactus in a sentence

  • Three years later, the unwatered cactus was still about two feet tall, a dark green color.2013, Leslie Morgan Steiner, The Baby Chase:
  • ‘It′s cactus,’ Rod, the helicopter pilot, said at the sound of the piston ring shattering.2009, Will Chaffey, Swimming with Crocodiles: An Australian Adventure, page 108:

All 40 example sentences with cactus

Synonyms of cactus

Forms of cactus

pluralcacti
pluralcactuses
pluralcactusses
pluralcactus

Plural of cactus: cacti or cactuses

Origin of cactus

From taxonomic name Cactus, a name given in 1752 by Linnaeus for a genus of cacti (now superseded by the genus name Mammillaria), from Latin cactus, from Ancient Greek κάκτος (káktos, “cardoon”), possibly of Pre-Greek origin.

Words formed from cactus

Phrases with cactus

26 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with cactus

Questions about cactus

What does cactus mean?
Cactus means any member of the family Cactaceae, a family of flowering New World succulent plants suited to a hot, semi-desert climate.
What is cactus in Hindi?
Cactus in Hindi is कैक्टस (kaikṭas), नागफनी (nāgaphnī). See Cactus meaning in Hindi.
How do you use cactus in a sentence?
Three years later, the unwatered cactus was still about two feet tall, a dark green color.
What part of speech is cactus?
Cactus can be a noun, an adjective or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce cactus?
Cactus is pronounced /ˈkæktəs/ (UK).
What is the plural of cactus?
The plural of cactus is cacti.

Words near cactus in the dictionary

  1. cactomania
  2. cactophile
  3. cactophiles
  4. cactophilic
  5. cactophily
  6. cactus
  7. cactus cat
  8. cactus cats
  9. cactus deermice
  10. cactus deermouse
  11. cactus fig

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: cactus (page history and authors); Cactus (page history and authors); निवडुंग (Marathi) (page history and authors); cactus (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); cactus (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); കള്ളിമുൾച്ചെടി (Malayalam) (page history and authors); ಕಳ್ಳಿ (Kannada) (page history and authors); થોર (Gujarati) (page history and authors); cactus (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); cactus (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-cactus.ogg, EN-AU ck1 cactus.ogg.

Cite this entry: “cactus.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/cactus. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.