Definition

1. Adjective:

   • Having flowers; in bloom: Describes a plant that is producing or displaying flowers.
   • Flourishing, thriving: Used figuratively to describe a period of great development, success, or cultural richness.

2. Noun:

   • The process or time of producing flowers: The act or period when a plant's buds open into flowers.
   • A developmental process; a period of great success or cultural achievement: A figurative use describing the peak or blossoming phase of an activity, movement, or era.

Examples of Usage

• Adjective:

  • We planted flowering shrubs along the path. (The shrubs are of a type that produces flowers.)
  • The Renaissance was a flowering period for the arts. (The Renaissance was a thriving, highly productive period for the arts.)

• Noun:

  • The flowering of the cherry trees happens in early spring. (The process of the cherry trees blooming occurs in spring.)
  • The 1960s saw a flowering of new ideas in music and social norms. (The 1960s experienced a peak development of new ideas.)

Advanced Usage

• "In full flowering": At the peak of development or bloom.
  • The garden is in full flowering this month. (The garden's plants are all blooming profusely now.)
  • Her talent was in full flowering during that decade. (Her talent was at its most developed and productive stage.)

Variants and Related Words

• Flower (noun/verb): The bloom itself; to produce flowers.
  • The plant will flower in June.
• Flowered (adjective): Having a pattern of flowers.
  • She wore a flowered dress. (This refers to a printed pattern, not the act of blooming.)
• Nonflowering (adjective): Not producing flowers (e.g., ferns, mosses).
  • Ferns are nonflowering plants.

Synonyms

• Adjective (blooming): Blossoming, in bloom, in flower.
• Noun (development): Blossoming, flourishing, heyday, peak, culmination.

Related Phrases

• Flowering of age: (Less common) A literary phrase for reaching maturity or a peak period.
  • The novel captures the flowering of the protagonist's age and understanding.

Related Idioms

• Late flowering: Developing talents or success later in life than is typical.
  • She was a late flowering artist, publishing her first novel at age 60.

Adjective

1. having a flower or bloom
   • a flowering plant

Noun

1. a developmental process
   • the flowering of antebellum culture
2. the time and process of budding and unfolding of blossoms