"stems" in the noun sense
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. stem
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
"stems" in the verb sense
1. stem
grow out of, have roots in, originate in
"The increase in the national debt stems from the last war"
2. stem
cause to point inward
"stem your skis"
3. stem, stanch, staunch, halt
stop the flow of a liquid
"staunch the blood flow"
"stem the tide"
4. stem
remove the stem from
"for automatic natural language processing, the words must be stemmed"
Source: WordNet® (An amazing lexical database of English)
Princeton University "About WordNet®."
WordNet®. Princeton University. 2010.
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