Meaning of Wallflower | Babel Free

Definitions

1. Any of several short-lived herbs or shrubs of the Erysimum genus with bright yellow to red flowers.
2. Gastrolobium grandiflorum, a poisonous bushy shrub, endemic to Australia.
3. A person who does not dance at a party, due to shyness or unpopularity; by extension, anyone who is left on the sidelines while an activity takes place.
4. Any person who is socially awkward, shy, or reserved.
   informal

Equivalents

Examples

“A polypetalous corolla is either cruciform, as in a wall-flower, rosaceous, papilionaceous, as in the pea kind, or incomplete, when some parts found in analogous flowers are wanting.”

“Mrs. Galbraith shook all over with laughter as she replied, "Hear that boy, asking me to dance ! I'm content to be a wallflower, now-a-days."”

“And now, by virtue of his office, he is entitled to a seat in the Grand Lodge. Is it any wonder he is a wall-flower there […]”

“It is a triumph, of course, to have plenty of partners, and not to be a wallflower for a single dance.”

“Jack Breen was a wallflower; still at the same time I noticed he was cultivating an ornamental smile — a Jack of Trumps, you bet.”

“She was a wallflower in a sleepy little town itself a wallflower. She was a joke to the village wits and a byword to the village belles.”

“"Where--oh. Hidden in the corner. You two aren't already going all wallflower, are you?" "We are not wallflowers." "To be fair, I can be. But then I get mad at myself for it and get all loud and snarky."”

“Second City was a wallflower at the show business ball. It needed to be. Improvisers needed to fail, and fail safely; and in the Midwest, far from Broadway and Hollywood, they really could. Second-class stature was the secret ingredient, ...”

“I've always been a wallflower, even in my own home. But, I'm willing to learn to be a part of your world. I would like to. I have already told my parents that I want to go to soirées.”

CEFR level