1
: a large coarse fern
especially
: a nearly cosmopolitan brake (Pteridium aquilinum) found in most tropical and temperate regions
2
: a growth of brakes
Examples of bracken in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
This transverse section of the stem of bracken fern could be a cartoonist’s impression of a talking...stem of bracken fern.
—
Cecilia Rodriguez, Forbes, 20 Oct. 2024
Intensive agricultural usage, long promoted by government funding, gives way to the rampant spread of bracken — a type of fern that, left to its own devices, grows upwards of six feet, choking out any other life.
—Tom Vanderbilt, Travel + Leisure, 25 June 2024
Come morning, all this would be vines, bracken, and bears.
—Sara Holdren, Vulture, 5 Nov. 2023
The few shards of sunlight that pierce the leaf canopy cast glitter-ball shapes on the bracken.
—Stephen Humphries, The Christian Science Monitor, 24 Aug. 2023
Habitats include bracken grassland, oak savanna and sand prairies.
—Christopher Kuhagen, Journal Sentinel, 6 June 2023
In a statement, Cornwall Archaeological Unit senior archaeologist Peter Dudley, said that 13 volunteers gave 111 hours of their time to clear the bracken and scrub that obscured the henge.
—Jane Recker, Smithsonian Magazine, 20 May 2022
The crash of wild bodies in the bracken thundered in my ears.
—Outside Online, 25 May 2020
Some dishes on display — radish pickles, or mushrooms paired with gently chewy bracken ferns dressed in nutty perilla oil, or tangles of acorn-flour noodles — bring to mind an uplifting array of banchan.
—Bill Addison, Los Angeles Times, 17 Mar. 2022
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Cecilia Rodriguez, Forbes, 20 Oct. 2024
Intensive agricultural usage, long promoted by government funding, gives way to the rampant spread of bracken — a type of fern that, left to its own devices, grows upwards of six feet, choking out any other life.
—Tom Vanderbilt, Travel + Leisure, 25 June 2024
Come morning, all this would be vines, bracken, and bears.
—Sara Holdren, Vulture, 5 Nov. 2023
The few shards of sunlight that pierce the leaf canopy cast glitter-ball shapes on the bracken.
—Stephen Humphries, The Christian Science Monitor, 24 Aug. 2023
Habitats include bracken grassland, oak savanna and sand prairies.
—Christopher Kuhagen, Journal Sentinel, 6 June 2023
In a statement, Cornwall Archaeological Unit senior archaeologist Peter Dudley, said that 13 volunteers gave 111 hours of their time to clear the bracken and scrub that obscured the henge.
—Jane Recker, Smithsonian Magazine, 20 May 2022
The crash of wild bodies in the bracken thundered in my ears.
—Outside Online, 25 May 2020
Some dishes on display — radish pickles, or mushrooms paired with gently chewy bracken ferns dressed in nutty perilla oil, or tangles of acorn-flour noodles — bring to mind an uplifting array of banchan.
—Bill Addison, Los Angeles Times, 17 Mar. 2022
Cite this Entry
“Bracken.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bracken. Accessed 22 Jul. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
bracken
noun
brack·en
ˈbrak-ən 
: a large coarse branching fern
also
: a growth of such ferns
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