ragweed
US/ˈɹæɡˌwid/
ragweed noun: a plant of the genus Ambrosia, native to North America and a common invasive species elsewhere, particularly noted for producing pollen that triggers hay fever.
Noun
ragweed (countable and uncountable, plural ragweeds)
- A plant of the genus Ambrosia, native to North America and a common invasive species elsewhere, particularly noted for producing pollen that triggers hay fever.
- 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...1916 September 16, W[illiam] Scheppegrell, “Direct and Indirect Hay-Fever: Preliminary Report of the Research Department of the American Hay-Fever-Prevention Association on the Etiology of...
- RAGWEED (Jeffogia Fingerolia) : The hayfever king, ragweed, brings tears to the eyes of grown men.2009 January 29, “The Leafs' Garden of Weedin'”, in Toronto Star
- Synonyms:
- ambrosia
- Synonym of ragwort.
- The fields, being rough and stony, and wholly unfit for the plough, were mostly devoted to the pasturing of sheep and cattle; […] and in many of the inclosures, ragweeds and rushes usurped supremacy over the scanty herbage : but these were not my property.1848, Anne Brontë, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, page 16
- Synonyms:
- ragwort
- A summer cypress, mock cypress (Bassia scoparia).
Synonyms of ragweed
Forms of ragweed
| plural | ragweeds |
|---|
Origin of ragweed
Alteration of earlier ragwort; presumably equivalent to ragged + weed, with "rag" referring to the tattered appearance of the plant's leaves. Compare Middle English ragwed (“butcher's broom”), of uncertain linguistic relationship.
Words formed from ragweed
- annual ragweed
- coastal ragweed
- common ragweed
- common ragweed fruit fly
- Cuman ragweed
- dwarf bur ragweed
- flatspine burr ragweed
- giant ragweed
- great ragweed
- lacy ragweed
- lanceleaf ragweed
- minute ragweed borer
- perennial ragweed
- Peruvian ragweed
- ragweed gall mite
- ragweed borer moth
- ragweed flower moth
- ragweed leaf beetle
- ragweed plume moth
- ragweed weevil
- San Diego ragweed
- silver burr ragweed
- Tucson bur ragweed
- weakleaf bur ragweed
- western ragweed
Questions about ragweed
- What does ragweed mean?
- Ragweed means a plant of the genus Ambrosia, native to North America and a common invasive species elsewhere, particularly noted for producing pollen that triggers hay fever.
- What part of speech is ragweed?
- Ragweed is a noun.
- How do you pronounce ragweed?
- Ragweed is pronounced /ˈɹæɡˌwid/ (US).
- What is the plural of ragweed?
- The plural of ragweed is ragweeds.
Words near ragweed in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: ragweed (page history and authors). 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:
Cite this entry: “ragweed.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ragweed. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.