1. shaped like a club; thicker at one end than the other, especially thicker at the tip.
Usage: chiefly botanical and zoological

Examples

• The clavate antennae of the insect were distinctly thicker at their tips.
• Botanists identified the clavate structure of the fungal spore under the microscope.
• The clavate leaves gradually widened toward their rounded ends.
• This species has clavate tentacles that resemble small clubs.
• The clavate shape of the organism's appendages aids in its movement through water.