Meaning & use
floral arrangement
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Meanings
nouncountable
A group of flowers and leaves put together in a pleasing shape, often shown in a container.
Grammar: Countable: say 'a floral arrangement' for one, and 'floral arrangements' for more than one.
Patterns
- a floral arrangement for something
- make a floral arrangement
- a floral arrangement of flowers
She placed a tall floral arrangement in the middle of the dining table.
The hotel orders fresh floral arrangements for the lobby every Monday.
For the wedding, they chose floral arrangements of white roses and eucalyptus.
noununcountable
The skill or activity of putting cut flowers together as decoration.
Grammar: Uncountable here: no 'a' and no plural, as in 'She teaches floral arrangement'.
Patterns
- study floral arrangement
- a class in floral arrangement
He took a course in floral arrangement at the community college.
Floral arrangement is a popular hobby in many countries.
Her book on floral arrangement sold well last year.
Word forms
| plural | floral arrangements |
|---|
Common combinations
- a fresh floral arrangement
- A fresh floral arrangement arrived from the client.
- order a floral arrangement
- I ordered a floral arrangement for my mother's birthday.
- a floral arrangement for a wedding
- They made a floral arrangement for a wedding on Saturday.
- a large floral arrangement
- A large floral arrangement stood beside the entrance.
- arrange flowers
- She learned to arrange flowers from her grandmother.
Synonyms and how they differ
- bouquet
- A bouquet is a bunch of flowers usually held or given by hand, while a floral arrangement is often set in a container as decoration.
- flower arrangement
- This means almost the same and is very common; 'floral arrangement' sounds slightly more formal or commercial.
- posy
- A posy is a small, old-fashioned bunch of flowers, much smaller than most floral arrangements.
Word family
- florist noun
- A person who sells and arranges cut flowers.
- floral adjective
- Made of flowers or decorated with flowers.
- arrange verb
- To put things in a neat or pleasing order.
- arrangement noun
- The way things are placed or organized.
Commonly confused: floral arrangement or floral / floury?
floral arrangement vs floral / floury
'Floral' relates to flowers, while 'floury' means covered in or tasting of flour, as in 'floury potatoes'.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'floral arrangement' correctly?
Choose one answer.
'A floral arrangement' is a countable noun phrase and fits after 'bought'. Option 2 wrongly uses it as a verb, option 3 gives the wrong meaning, and option 4 uses a plural noun where a verb is needed.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “floral arrangement”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.