Enter a clue or pattern or both:

The Clue

It may be thorny (4 letter answer)

The Answer

STEM

Tags


Notes

The answer STEM is seen frequently, appearing about once every 50 puzzles.

Related Clues

Arise
Arise from
Caudex
Check
Derive (from)
Originate
Peduncle
Restrain
Retard
From ___ to stern
Bloom's support
Blossom support
Broadway, the Main ___
___ cell research
Cut flower
Dam up
Flower holder
Flower part
Flower supporter
Fruit/tree connector
Flute section
Goblet feature
Hold back
Kind of cell
Part of a rose
Part of a watch
Pipe part
Plant part
Rose part
Spinach part
Spoon handle
Stern's opposite
Stop, in skiing
Supporter of nature
Watch part
Wineglass part
Forward part of the Pinta
Long part of a rose
Make headway against
Part of a flower or wineglass
Part of a musical note

Definition

STEM as a noun:

1. (root, root word, base, stem, theme, radical) = (linguistics) the form of a word after all affixes are removed; "thematic vowels are part of the stem"
2. (stalk, stem) = a slender or elongated structure that supports a plant or fungus or a plant part or plant organ
3. (shank, stem) = cylinder forming a long narrow part of something
4. the tube of a tobacco pipe
5. (bow, fore, prow, stem) = front part of a vessel or aircraft; "he pointed the bow of the boat toward the finish line"
6. (stem turn, stem) = a turn made in skiing; the back of one ski is forced outward and the other ski is brought parallel to it

STEM as a verb:

1. grow out of, have roots in, originate in; "The increase in the national debt stems from the last war"
2. cause to point inward; "stem your skis"
3. (stem, stanch, staunch, halt) = stop the flow of a liquid; "staunch the blood flow"; "them the tide"
4. remove the stem from; "for automatic natural language processing, the words must be stemmed"