Meaning & use
impatiens
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Meanings
nouncountable
A garden plant with soft green leaves and flat five-petaled flowers in many bright colors, often grown in shade.
Grammar: Countable but the plural is usually written the same as the singular: one impatiens, several impatiens.
Patterns
- grow impatiens in something
- plant impatiens under something
- a bed of impatiens
She filled the shady corner of the yard with pink and white impatiens.
Impatiens need plenty of water in hot weather, or the leaves droop.
The garden center sells flats of impatiens every spring.
nounpropertechnicalbiology
The plant genus Impatiens, which includes busy Lizzies and touch-me-nots.
Grammar: Used as a scientific name, so it is capitalized and takes a singular verb: Impatiens is a large genus.
Patterns
- the genus Impatiens
- Impatiens species
Impatiens is one of the largest genera of flowering plants.
Botanists have described more than a thousand Impatiens species.
Word forms
| plural | impatiens |
|---|
Common combinations
- shade-loving impatiens
- Shade-loving impatiens brighten north-facing gardens.
- plant impatiens
- We planted impatiens along the front path.
- impatiens in a hanging basket
- Impatiens in a hanging basket look lovely by the door.
- a flat of impatiens
- He bought a flat of impatiens at the market.
- impatiens wilt
- The impatiens wilt quickly if you forget to water them.
Synonyms and how they differ
- busy Lizzie
- The everyday British name for the same common garden plant; in American English people usually just say impatiens.
- touch-me-not
- A folk name for impatiens and similar plants whose ripe seed pods burst when touched; it is less common in ordinary garden talk.
Word family
- impatient adjective
- Not related in meaning in modern use, but it shares the Latin root that gave the plant its name.
Commonly confused: impatiens or impatience? impatiens or impatient?
impatiens vs impatience
This is the noun for being unable to wait calmly, not a plant. Impatiens is the flower; impatience is the feeling.
impatiens vs impatient
An adjective meaning not able to wait; do not use it for the plant.
Practice
Which sentence uses the plant name correctly?
Choose one answer.
The plant is called impatiens, and the plural is normally spelled the same. 'Impatience' and 'impatient' name a feeling, not a flower, and 'impatiences' is not the usual plant plural.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “impatiens”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.