nodulose

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nod·ule

(nŏj′o͞ol)

1. A small knotlike protuberance.

2. Medicine A small, abnormal but usually benign mass of tissue, as on the thyroid gland, in the lung, or under the skin.

3. Botany A small knoblike outgrowth, especially one on the roots of a leguminous plant that contains bacteria that fix nitrogen.

4. Mineralogy A small rounded lump of a mineral or mixture of minerals, usually harder than the surrounding rock or sediment.

[Middle English, from Latin nōdulus, diminutive of nōdus, knot; see ned- in Indo-European roots.]

nod′u·lar (nŏj′ə-lər), nod′u·lose′ (-lōs′), nod′u·lous (-ləs) adj.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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Adj.

nodulose - having minute nodules

unshapely - not well-proportioned and pleasing in shape; "a stout unshapely woman"

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References in periodicals archive ?

Plants perennial, with loosely clustered stems; rhizomes 1-8 cm long, 3-5 mm thick, hard, stout, nodulose; roots fibrous.

A review of the genus Scleria (Cyperaceae) in Illinois

Lateral areas distinctly defined, sculptured like head valve, two nodulose ribs of about equal width, separate by narrow, deep sulcus.