- the main long, thin part of a plant above the ground from which the leaves or flowers grow; a smaller part that grows from this and supports flowers or leaves
- long, trailing stems of ivy
- a tall plant with branching stems
- There are several leaves on each stem.
- When the bush has finished flowering, cut back all the stems.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- long
- tall
- short
- …
- break
- cut
- cut back
- …
- break
- on a/the stem
- the base of the stem
- the long, thin part of a wine glass between the bowl and the base
- the thin tube of a tobacco pipe
- -stemmed(in adjectives) having one or more stems of the type mentioned
- a long-stemmed rose
- slender-stemmed wine glasses
- (grammar) the main part of a word that stays the same when endings are added to it
- ‘Writ’ is the stem of the forms ‘writes’, ‘writing’ and ‘written’.
Word Originnoun Old English stemn, stefn, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch stam and German Stamm. Sense (4) is related to Dutch steven, German Steven.
Idioms
See stem in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee stem in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic Englishfrom stem to stern
- all the way from the front of a ship to the back
Check pronunciation:
stem