di·var·i·cate

(dī-văr′ĭ-kāt′, dĭ-)

intr.v. di·var·i·cat·ed, di·var·i·cat·ing, di·var·i·cates

To diverge at a wide angle; spread apart.

adj. (dī-văr′ə-kĭt, -kāt′, dĭ-)

1. Biology Branching or spreading widely from a point or axis, as the branches of a tree or shrub; diverging.

2. Relating to a separation of two bones normally adjacent or attached but not located in a joint; distatic.

[Latin dīvāricāre, dīvāricāt- : dī, dis-, dis- + vāricāre, to straddle (from vārus, bent).]

di·var′i·cate′ly adv.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

References in periodicals archive

Stems 10-45 cm, erect, striate, often simple, glabrous below, strigillose above, simple or divaricately branched above.

Stems 1.5-4.5 dm, erect, usually divaricately branched above, strigillose with retrorse or rarely spreading trichomes.

A synopsis of the South American Lepidium (Brassicaceae)/ Sinopsis de las especies sudamericanas de Lepidium (Brassicaceae)

Shrubs with stems either erect and simple or divaricately branched.

The subfamily Mutisioideae (Asteraceae)

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