What does luxuriant mean?
Word: Luxuriant
Part of Speech: Adjective
Meaning: Luxuriant means growing thickly and healthily, in a way that looks rich and full.
How do you spell luxuriant?
Syllables: lux - u - ri - ant
Tricky part: The ending is a light, quick sound, so students reach for ent. The right ending is ant.
Watch out for: luxurient, luxuriunt
Memory tip: Only a healthy plant can look like this, and plant ends in the same three letters.
Luxuriant in a sentence
Example 1: After the monsoon, the hills of Coorg are covered in luxuriant green.
Example 2: Priya's grandmother still has luxuriant black hair at seventy.
Example 3: The gardener's careful feeding gave the lawn a luxuriant look.
Fun Fact
Roman writers on farming used the Latin word behind it for crops that grew too thick and leafy.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Cookie
Insert the correct letters to form a word:
l_x_riant
a) o, u
b) u, u
c) a, u
d) u, o
Show answer
b) u, u. Both gaps take the same vowel, a u.
Mingle-Mangle
Unscramble the jumbled word in the sentence and choose the correct word:
Thick, rinautxul creepers had climbed over the garden wall and reached the roof by August.
a) luxurious
b) exuberant
c) luxuriant
d) lubricant
Show answer
c) luxuriant. The two u's and the missing o and s leave a single choice.
Word Connection
Choose the antonym of the word luxuriant as used in the sentence:
Luxuriant ferns covered the stone walls of the old stepwell near the tea gardens.
a) lush
b) dense
c) abundant
d) sparse
Show answer
d) sparse. Sparse growth is thin and scattered, where luxuriant growth is thick.
Spell-o-Spell
Three of these words are spelt correctly. Choose the meaning of the misspelt word:
1. foliage 2. vegetation 3. florish 4. luxuriant
a) to grow well and stay healthy
b) plants in general, especially in one area
c) the leaves of a tree or plant
d) rich and thick in the way it grows
Show answer
a) to grow well and stay healthy. Flourish keeps the ou of flour after the l.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Which of these would a gardener be happiest to call luxuriant?
a) a row of thin, drooping stems
b) a tray of seeds not yet planted
c) a thick bed of healthy ferns
d) a dry patch of yellow grass
Show answer
c) a thick bed of healthy ferns
2. Which phrase uses the word most naturally?
a) a luxuriant leather sofa
b) a luxuriant five-star hotel
c) a luxuriant holiday cruise
d) a luxuriant tropical forest
Show answer
d) a luxuriant tropical forest
