jacob's ladder

Questions about jacob's ladder

What does jacob's ladder mean?

jacob's ladder means "pinnate-leaved European perennial having bright blue or white flowers". That is the primary sense; the word has 2 in total, listed in full on this page.

What is another word for jacob's ladder?

Close synonyms include Greek valerian, charity, Polemonium caeruleum, Polemonium van-bruntiae, Polymonium caeruleum van-bruntiae. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is jacob's ladder a common word?

jacob's ladder is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.