How to Use tumbleweed in a Sentence

tumbleweed

noun
  • Some people spent part of their New Year's Eve trapped in tumbleweeds.
    CBS News, 2 Jan. 2020
  • Adams, who has blown around the basketball scene in West Texas like a tumbleweed for decades, is a Tech man through and through.
    Dallas News, 31 Jan. 2022
  • All that was missing was a tumbleweed blowing across the 50-yard line.
    Shannon Ryan, chicagotribune.com, 24 Oct. 2020
  • Events like public protests roll past like tumbleweed and are gone from sight.
    Jim Dwyer, New York Times, 21 Dec. 2017
  • Along the way, they are assisted by Sage (Keanu Reeves – yes), who is a wise tumbleweed.
    Bill Goodykoontz, Detroit Free Press, 6 Mar. 2021
  • Along the way, they are assisted by Sage (Keanu Reeves — yes), who is a wise tumbleweed.
    Bill Goodykoontz, The Arizona Republic, 2 Mar. 2021
  • Tumbleweeds of dog hair no longer blow across our living room floor.
    Greg Trotter, chicagotribune.com, 30 Apr. 2017
  • This Tumbleweed model, by virtue of its size, could house a homeless mother and child at the least.
    Michael J. Fallon, The Mercury News, 4 May 2017
  • The desert is flat, boring and grows nothing but tumbleweeds.
    Roger Naylor, azcentral, 4 Mar. 2020
  • A few blocks away, a plastic bag fluttered like a tumbleweed across Main Street.
    Courant Community, 22 Aug. 2017
  • The series has varied its title sequence over the years, and the tumbleweed made its debut in the fourth episode of the first season.
    Rich Heldenfels, Star Tribune, 15 Mar. 2021
  • For the past few decades, the tumbleweed town has been owned by members of a single family.
    Brigit Katz, Smithsonian, 16 June 2018
  • The film feels as though it was put together the way a tumbleweed snatches up stray leaves and feathers.
    Amy Nicholson, Variety, 25 Aug. 2022
  • Dry riverbeds of sand and tumbleweeds that snake their way through farmers’ fields now charge with water swelling up their banks.
    Scott Smith, The Denver Post, 8 Apr. 2017
  • Toward the end of my hourlong drive up from L.A., an actual tumbleweed rolled along the shoulder of the 101.
    Harper's BAZAAR, 4 Feb. 2020
  • Along with the cast iron, Wolf brings long tongs, a wooden spoon, a cutting board, a knife and a natural tumbleweed-style fire starter.
    San Diego Union-Tribune, 20 July 2022
  • Call the smiley-face mission a tumbleweed; call it a snowball.
    Leslie Barker, Dallas News, 1 Sep. 2021
  • One antelope mount sits on a pedestal with an old, weathered fence post, barbed wire and tumbleweed.
    Christine Peterson, idahostatesman, 23 Oct. 2017
  • Empty miles unfold along the highway, where tufts of tumbleweed gust by.
    Eric Ogden, Marie Claire, 10 June 2019
  • One gunman gets away and scours the desert in search of Jimmy and Mike, but Mike lines up a shot and snipes the man through his car window, as his truck rolls like a tumbleweed down the dirt road.
    Ethan Shanfeld, Variety, 17 Apr. 2022
  • There will be tumbleweeds blowing through the Rose Bowl when Oregon State visits.
    oregonlive, 19 Sep. 2019
  • The roadway in both directions was closed for more than 10 hours Tuesday in order for the tumbleweeds to be removed.
    Minyvonne Burke, NBC News, 2 Jan. 2020
  • At the bottom of the basin the Husqvarna had enough power to roll that nasty mess into a large tumbleweed for easy disposal.
    Roy Berendsohn, Popular Mechanics, 25 Apr. 2023
  • The state patrol said vehicles were trapped on a Washington state highway in a pile of tumbleweeds that stood up to 30 feet tall in some places.
    CBS News, 2 Jan. 2020
  • Two of these tumbleweeds interbred at some point to form a new species, Salsola ryanii, which is about 5 feet in height and nearly as wide.
    Douglas Main, Newsweek, 29 Dec. 2016
  • Twenty five years ago, The Big Lebowski blew into theaters like a tumbleweed on an empty street.
    James Hibberd, The Hollywood Reporter, 2 Mar. 2023
  • The image of a tumbleweed rolling across a dusty Western expanse is as American as apple pie—but, of course, less palatable.
    Brigit Katz, Smithsonian, 9 Sep. 2019
  • To lighten the endemic grim, pop colors frequently emerge among the sand and tumbleweeds.
    Lila Seidman, Glendale News-Press, 23 Oct. 2019
  • But tumbleweeds blow through the empty feed folders of personal friends.
    Bruce Sterling, WIRED, 5 Aug. 2008
  • Tall, with a tumbleweed of tousled white hair, in worn jeans and a crisp plaid button-down, the 76-year-old broker sports a singular résumé ideal for catering to his clientele.
    Karen Heller, Washington Post, 16 Aug. 2022

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'tumbleweed.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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