Contemporary Examples. â 1 The government failed to show that it had adequate basis for the certification,â he wrote in August. â 2 As long as they have an adequate body weight, most women will ovulate just fine, even on marathon weekend,â he says. 3  The airline industry has failed to give an adequate answer to that.
Definition of nettle. 1  1 : any of a genus (Urtica of the family Urticaceae, the nettle family) of chiefly coarse herbs armed with stinging hairs â¦ legs, which smarted from the stings of nettles â¦ â James Stephens. 2  2 : any of various prickly or stinging plants other than the true nettles (genus Urtica)
In Great Britain and Ireland, the stinging nettle (U. dioica subsp. dioica) is the only common stinging plant and has found a place in several figures of speech in the English language. Shakespeare 's Hotspur urges that out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety (Henry IV, part 1, Act II Scene 3).