Noun
- 1. root, root word, base, stem, theme, radical, form, word form, signifier, descriptor
- usage: (linguistics) the form of a word after all affixes are removed; "thematic vowels are part of the stem"
- 2. stalk, stem, plant organ
- usage: a slender or elongated structure that supports a plant or fungus or a plant part or plant organ
- 3. shank, stem, cylinder
- usage: cylinder forming a long narrow part of something
- 4. stem, tube, tubing
- usage: the tube of a tobacco pipe
- 5. bow, fore, prow, stem, front
- usage: front part of a vessel or aircraft; "he pointed the bow of the boat toward the finish line"
- 6. stem turn, stem, turn, turning
- usage: a turn made in skiing; the back of one ski is forced outward and the other ski is brought parallel to it
Verb
- 1. stem, originate in
- usage: grow out of, have roots in, originate in; "The increase in the national debt stems from the last war"
- 2. stem, orient
- usage: cause to point inward; "stem your skis"
- 3. stem, stanch, staunch, halt, check
- usage: stop the flow of a liquid; "staunch the blood flow"; "stem the tide"
- 4. stem, remove, take, take away, withdraw
- usage: remove the stem from; "for automatic natural language processing, the words must be stemmed"
WordNet 3.0 Copyright © 2006 by Princeton University.
All rights reserved.Definition and meaning of stem (Dictionary)