- a wild plant with leaves that have pointed edges, are covered in fine hairs and sting (= cause you pain) if you touch them
- The nettles had spread and now covered half the garden.
Extra ExamplesTopics Plants and treesc2- The butterflies lay their eggs on nettles.
- There was an old car half buried in the nettles.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- stinging
- clump
- patch
- grow
- sting
- in nettles
Word OriginOld English netle, netele, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch netel and German Nessel. The verb dates from late Middle English.
Idioms
See nettle in the Oxford Advanced American Dictionarygrasp the nettle
- (British English) to deal with a difficult situation without hesitating
- The government now has the opportunity to grasp the nettle of prison reform.
Check pronunciation:
nettle