From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishcarnationcar‧na‧tion /kɑːˈneɪʃən $ kɑːr-/ noun [countable] HBPDLGa flower that smells sweet. Men often wear a carnation on their jacket on formal occasions.
Examples from the Corpus
carnation• They loaded me with branches of lemons and bunches of stocks and carnations - overpoweringly sweet.• I had sent her a few carnations from Skuytercliff, and I was astonished.• He is wearing his carnation again, and he could not possibly carry himself more erect.• Just then the first volley of rockets explodes into three enormous green-and-red carnations.• My father's favourite flowers were dark-red carnations.• Use scissors to cut the carnation stem lengthwise into three.• The main room was awash with bowls of pink and white carnations, the sweet, peppery scent filling the room.Origin carnation (1500-1600) Old French “flesh-color”, from Old Italian carnagione, from carne “flesh, meat”, from Latin caro; → CARNAL 