touch-me-not

1. 1.

   North American annual plant with usually yellow or orange flowers; grows chiefly on wet rather acid soil

   Synonymsjewelweedlady's earringsorange balsamcelandineImpatiens capensis

   Broaderherb

   Part ofgenus Impatiens
2. 2.

   Mediterranean vine having oblong fruit that when ripe expels its seeds and juice violently when touched

   Synonymssquirting cucumberexploding cucumberEcballium elaterium

   Broadergourd

   Part ofEcballium
3. 3.

   prostrate or semi-erect subshrub of tropical America, and Australia; heavily armed with recurved thorns and having sensitive soft grey-green leaflets that fold and droop at night or when touched or cooled

   Synonymssensitive plantshame plantlive-and-diehumble plantaction plantMimosa pudica

   Broadermimosa

   Part ofgenus Mimosa

Questions about touch-me-not

What does touch-me-not mean?

touch-me-not means "North American annual plant with usually yellow or orange flowers; grows chiefly on wet rather acid soil". That is the primary sense; the word has 3 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in touch-me-not?

touch-me-not has 3 syllables: touch--me--not. The stress falls on "touch-".

What is another word for touch-me-not?

Close synonyms include jewelweed, lady's earrings, orange balsam, celandine, Impatiens capensis. 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 touch-me-not a common word?

touch-me-not 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.