Montane
adj, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 An animal or a plant of a montane habitat.
"The true Montanes comprise those species, of unmistakably Alpine, Scottish, or Highland type, which not merely with us but elsewhere throughout Britain are characteristic of high latitudes and altitudes—of mountain regions only."
- 1 Of, inhabiting, or growing in mountain areas; specifically, the cool, moist upland slopes below the timberline.
"This plant evidently occupies, like V. sabulosa and V. Curtisii, an intermediate position between lutea and tricolor; and, as I have indicated already, it is a montane, not an agrestal plant. Jordan compares it to V. vivariensis, which is also a montane plant, between V. tricolor and V. lutea."
- 1 of or inhabiting mountainous regions wordnet
Example
More examples"This plant evidently occupies, like V. sabulosa and V. Curtisii, an intermediate position between lutea and tricolor; and, as I have indicated already, it is a montane, not an agrestal plant. Jordan compares it to V. vivariensis, which is also a montane plant, between V. tricolor and V. lutea."
Etymology
The adjective is derived from Latin montānus (“of or pertaining to a mountain”). Synchronically, it can be seen to have the suffix English -ane (variant of -an (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives)). Montānus is derived from mōns (“mount, mountain”) (from Proto-Indo-European *men- (“to stand out, to tower”)) + -ānus (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’). The noun is probably derived from the adjective.
Related phrases
More for "montane"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.