Meaning & use
bougainvillea
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Meaning
nouncountable or uncountable
A woody climbing plant of warm regions with small flowers surrounded by bright paper-like pink, purple or red bracts.
Grammar: Countable for a plant (a bougainvillea) and uncountable as a general term: bougainvillea covers the wall.
Patterns
- a bougainvillea on something
- bougainvillea in bloom
Pink bougainvillea spilled over the white garden wall.
We planted a bougainvillea by the porch to attract hummingbirds.
The cottage was draped in purple bougainvillea.
Word forms
| plural | bougainvilleas |
|---|
Common combinations
- bougainvillea in bloom
- The street looks lovely with bougainvillea in bloom.
- a wall covered in bougainvillea
- A wall covered in bougainvillea marked the garden's edge.
- prune bougainvillea
- You should prune bougainvillea after it flowers.
- pink bougainvillea
- Pink bougainvillea climbed the pergola.
- bougainvillea bracts
- The bougainvillea bracts are brighter than the flowers.
Synonyms and how they differ
- paper flower
- This is an informal nickname that refers to the papery look of the bracts.
- climbing shrub
- A general category, not one particular plant like bougainvillea.
- creeper
- A general word for plants that grow along surfaces.
Word family
Commonly confused: bougainvillea or begonia?
bougainvillea vs begonia
A begonia is a small, shade-loving flowering plant; bougainvillea is a large sun-loving climber.
Practice
Bright magenta _____ covered the villa wall.
Choose one answer.
Bougainvillea is a climbing plant that can cover a wall. The others are flowering plants that do not climb walls in this way.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “bougainvillea”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.