1
: food for animals especially when taken by browsing or grazing
The grass serves as forage for livestock.
2
[forage entry 2]
: the act of foraging : search for provisions
They made forages to find food.
foraged; foraging
1
: to strip of provisions : collect forage from
2
: to secure by foraging
foraged a chicken for the feast
1
: to wander in search of forage or food
2
: to secure forage (as for horses) by stripping the country
4
: to make a search : rummage
forager
noun
Synonyms
Examples of forage in a Sentence
Noun
The grass serves as forage for livestock.
Verb
The cows were foraging in the pasture.
He had to forage for firewood.
Recent Examples on the Web
Mark Scaglione, NBC News, 27 Sep. 2023
Animals including seals, walruses, polar bears, arctic foxes and whales use sea ice to hunt, breed, forage and rest.
—Will Sullivan, Smithsonian Magazine, 26 Sep. 2023
The Kastmaster’s shape is a close match to juvenile bunker, herring, and other forage staples.
14.
—Jimmy Fee, Field & Stream, 13 Sep. 2023
Despite thriving in shallow, weedy, mucky areas, snakeheads do not gravitate to decaying forage.
—Joe Cermele, Outdoor Life, 20 July 2023
The woman lives near a carpet python habitat and forages for native vegetation called warrigal greens to cook.
—Rod McGuirk, Anchorage Daily News, 29 Aug. 2023
Largemouths stay shallower most of the year, preferring to operate as loners or in small schools, with the exception of the summer months when some will school up in deeper, cooler water where forage is more prevalent.
—Shaye Baker, Field & Stream, 14 Sep. 2023
Some early species used their forelimbs to explore their surroundings, and prior to this study, scientists were unsure when seals and their relatives began using their whiskers to forage.
—Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 17 Aug. 2023
In fact, as long as a bear isn’t experiencing an energy deficit—when foraging requires more energy than the forage itself provides—bears don’t need to den.
—Natalie Krebs, Outdoor Life, 16 Aug. 2023
Zoe Baillargeon, Vogue, 15 Nov. 2023
Honeybees need to know which area has the most flowers for foraging.
—Yasemin Saplakoglu, Quanta Magazine, 9 Nov. 2023
While young turtles largely forage for food, hunting adults tend to wait, with their mouths wide open, for their prey to come to them.
—Paul Richards, Field & Stream, 1 Nov. 2023
Certain genres, like travel guides and foraging handbooks, have been hit noticeably hard with a glut of low-quality titles.
—WIRED, 28 Sep. 2023
In 1966, at a meeting remembered in anthropological lore as the beginning of hunter-gatherer studies, seventy-five experts assembled in Chicago to synthesize our knowledge about foraging peoples.
—Manvir Singh, The New Yorker, 25 Sep. 2023
Amazon recently removed a guide on foraging for mushrooms that some readers claimed was generated by AI and could have given incorrect advice about what mushrooms were edible or poisonous.
—Heather Kelly, Washington Post, 14 Sep. 2023
The campground has motor-home hookups and glamping tents, as well as a restaurant, and offers activities that include foraging tours.
—Regan Stephens, Travel + Leisure, 10 Sep. 2023
In writing about foraging mugwort for Grist last summer, Zoe Yang gets at what an end point might look like instead.
—Hazlitt, 6 Sep. 2023
See More
Noun
But free-roaming horses in the area eat the same plants, or forage, as the livestock.
—Mark Scaglione, NBC News, 27 Sep. 2023
Animals including seals, walruses, polar bears, arctic foxes and whales use sea ice to hunt, breed, forage and rest.
—Will Sullivan, Smithsonian Magazine, 26 Sep. 2023
The Kastmaster’s shape is a close match to juvenile bunker, herring, and other forage staples.
14.
—Jimmy Fee, Field & Stream, 13 Sep. 2023
Despite thriving in shallow, weedy, mucky areas, snakeheads do not gravitate to decaying forage.
—Joe Cermele, Outdoor Life, 20 July 2023
The woman lives near a carpet python habitat and forages for native vegetation called warrigal greens to cook.
—Rod McGuirk, Anchorage Daily News, 29 Aug. 2023
Largemouths stay shallower most of the year, preferring to operate as loners or in small schools, with the exception of the summer months when some will school up in deeper, cooler water where forage is more prevalent.
—Shaye Baker, Field & Stream, 14 Sep. 2023
Some early species used their forelimbs to explore their surroundings, and prior to this study, scientists were unsure when seals and their relatives began using their whiskers to forage.
—Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 17 Aug. 2023
In fact, as long as a bear isn’t experiencing an energy deficit—when foraging requires more energy than the forage itself provides—bears don’t need to den.
—Natalie Krebs, Outdoor Life, 16 Aug. 2023
Verb
Seasonal, locavore dining is a way of life on Vancouver Island, with restaurants and locals alike using wild-grown, foraged, and caught ingredients from the land and sea for fresh, healthy, nutritious island-to-table dining.
—Zoe Baillargeon, Vogue, 15 Nov. 2023
Honeybees need to know which area has the most flowers for foraging.
—Yasemin Saplakoglu, Quanta Magazine, 9 Nov. 2023
While young turtles largely forage for food, hunting adults tend to wait, with their mouths wide open, for their prey to come to them.
—Paul Richards, Field & Stream, 1 Nov. 2023
Certain genres, like travel guides and foraging handbooks, have been hit noticeably hard with a glut of low-quality titles.
—WIRED, 28 Sep. 2023
In 1966, at a meeting remembered in anthropological lore as the beginning of hunter-gatherer studies, seventy-five experts assembled in Chicago to synthesize our knowledge about foraging peoples.
—Manvir Singh, The New Yorker, 25 Sep. 2023
Amazon recently removed a guide on foraging for mushrooms that some readers claimed was generated by AI and could have given incorrect advice about what mushrooms were edible or poisonous.
—Heather Kelly, Washington Post, 14 Sep. 2023
The campground has motor-home hookups and glamping tents, as well as a restaurant, and offers activities that include foraging tours.
—Regan Stephens, Travel + Leisure, 10 Sep. 2023
In writing about foraging mugwort for Grist last summer, Zoe Yang gets at what an end point might look like instead.
—Hazlitt, 6 Sep. 2023
See More
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'forage.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
Noun and Verb
Middle English, from Anglo-French, from fuerre, foer fodder, straw, of Germanic origin; akin to Old High German fuotar food, fodder — more at food
First Known Use
Noun
14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Verb
15th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1
Time Traveler
The first known use of forage was
in the 14th century
Dictionary Entries Near forage
Cite this Entry
“Forage.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/forage. Accessed 30 Nov. 2023.
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Kids Definition
forage
1 of 2 noun
for·age
ˈfȯr-ij 
ˈfär-
1
: food (as pasture) for browsing or grazing animals
2
: a search for food or supplies
forage
2 of 2 verb
foraged; foraging
2
: to make a search especially for food or supplies
forage for grain
forage for firewood
3
: to get by foraging
forager
noun
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