forest

play

noun, often attributive for·est \ ˈfȯr-əst , ˈfär- \

Definition of forest

1 :a dense growth of trees and underbrush covering a large tract

A fire destroyed acres of forest.

forests of pine and mahogany

2 :a tract of wooded land in England formerly owned by the sovereign and used for game

3 :something resembling a forest especially in profusion or lushness

a forest of microphones

a kelp forest

a forest of skyscrapers

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forestal

play \ˈfȯr-ə-stᵊl, ˈfär-\ or forestial play \fə-ˈre-stē-əl, fȯ-, -ˈres-chəl, -ˈresh-\ adjective

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forested

play \ˈfȯr-ə-stəd, ˈfär-\ adjective

See forest defined for English-language learners

See forest defined for kids

Examples of forest in a Sentence

Fires destroyed acres of forest.
the endless forest that the first European settlers encountered

Recent Examples of forest from the Web

On Aug. 21, 1992, a team of U.S. marshals scouting the thick forest to find suitable places to arrest Weaver came across his friend Kevin Harris and Weaver’s 14-year-old son, Samuel, in the woods.

— Washington Post, "25 years later, Ruby Ridge standoff inspires militia groups," 30 Aug. 2017
Meanwhile, golden topminnows and killifish shelter in the shadows hoping to avoid bass and bream lurking in the underwater forest created by the tall stalks and flower stems.

— ben raines | braines@al.com, AL.com, "Stranded in the Delta with nothing but time and a camera," 30 Aug. 2017
Relying on a wood burning fire and teeny-tiny grate to cook enough food for a small army can seem daunting to camping novices, but thankfully our savvy crew has transformed the forest into a merry mess hall multiple times.

— melissa elsmo, chicagotribune.com, "Frito Pie: This chili-based campout classic is in the bag," 29 Aug. 2017
The aquarium would have displays on the Amazon rain forest, a tropical reef and ocean ecosystems.

— sheldon s. shafer, The Courier-Journal, "Scrapped plans for Louisville aquarium resurface in Southern Indiana county," 26 Aug. 2017
Austin Bohanan, who had been missing in Great Smoky Mountains National Park since Aug. 11, walked out of the forest unhurt on Tuesday.

— bruce henderson, charlotteobserver, "Lost in the Smokies, he tried to call his mom. Then he followed creeks for 11 days.," 23 Aug. 2017
As totality blanketed Gallatin, Tennessee, just north of Nashville, and the strange twilight hue from the almost-full eclipse dimmed to darkness, a chorus of cicadas erupted from the surrounding forest.

— jay bennett, Popular Mechanics, "The Cosmic Weirdness of Solar Eclipse Totality," 21 Aug. 2017
The couch was in the middle of the forest, ready for its close-up.

— alex suskind, vanityfair.com, "Inside Nickelodeon’s Saturday Night Gamble," 15 Aug. 2017
The couch was in the middle of the forest, ready for its close-up.

— alex suskind, HWD, "Inside Nickelodeon’s Saturday Night Gamble," 15 Aug. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'forest.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of forest

Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Late Latin forestis (silva) unenclosed (woodland), from Latin foris outside — more at forum

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 13th century

See Words from the same year

forest Synonyms

Synonyms

forestland, timber, timberland, wood (s), woodland

Related Words

brake, brushwood, chaparral, coppice, copse, covert, grove, scrubland, stand, thicket; greenwood, wildwood; woodlot; arboretum, plantation

Other Ecology Terms

Malthusian, anthropogenic, biomass, carbon footprint, crepuscular, niche, sere, symbiosis, taiga, tundra

forest

verb

Definition of forest

transitive verb

:to cover with trees or forest

land densely forested with firs

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forestation

play \ˌfȯr-ə-ˈstā-shən, ˌfär-\ noun

Recent Examples of forest from the Web

THE AREA OF south-central Vermont around Stratton Mountain is a rural landscape of white-clapboard farm houses and rolling hills forested with tall pines and silvery birches.

— valerie stivers, WSJ, "A Discreetly Fashionable Getaway in New England," 29 June 2017
Portugal, like most southern European countries, is prone to forest fires in the dry summer months.

— armando franca, The Denver Post, "Raging forest fire kills 61 in Portugal; many as they fled," 18 June 2017
Wong and his colleague Gordon Yong, an entomologist at the National University of Singapore, stumbled on the ants’ hideaway in March 2016, while surveying Singapore’s forested Mandai area.

— michael greshko, National Geographic, "Extremely Rare ‘T. Rex’ Ant Found Alive for First Time," 16 May 2017
According to the study’s lead author, Dr. Christine Kihembo, a health ministry epidemiologist, the Kamwenge area had been forested and occupied until the 1960s by hunter-gatherers.

— donald g. mcneil jr., New York Times, "Volcanic Minerals, Not Worms, Caused Disease Outbreak in Uganda," 10 Apr. 2017
And that’s a problem, says Helmer, because ungrazed land will rapidly grow forested, crowding out wildflowers and butterflies.

— jonathon keats, Discover Magazine, "Return of the Aurochs," 6 Feb. 2017