noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   Nerium oleander, a notoriously poisonous shrub in the dogbane family, Apocynaceae, but nonetheless widely grown as an ornamental, having leathery lance-shaped leaves and deep rose-colored or white flowers. countable, uncountable
2. 2
   an ornamental but poisonous flowering shrub having narrow evergreen leaves and clusters of fragrant white to pink or red flowers: native to East Indies but widely cultivated in warm regions wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

flowerlaurel rosenerium oleanderrose bayrose laurelrosebay

Example

More examples

"I sat at the riverbank, under the shade of an oleander."

Etymology

From French oléandre, from Medieval Latin oleandru, from Late Latin lorandrum, perhaps an alteration of rhododendron.

Related phrases

oleander mothsweet oleanderyellow oleandernerium oleander

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.