ground cover

noun

1

: the small plants on a forest floor except young trees

2

a

: a planting of low plants (such as ivy) that covers the ground in place of turf

b

: a plant adapted for use as ground cover

Example Sentences

Recent Examples on the Web

Instead, the landscape palette uses various forms of mulch, ground cover, wildflowers and pine straw. —Laura Kinsler, Orlando Sentinel, 14 Apr. 2023

Plant them with other spring bloomers in pots or as a ground cover. —Arricca Elin Sansone, Country Living, 4 Feb. 2023

Over time, cesium and strontium accumulate in the trees’ needles, which again fall to the ground and become part of the forest litter. Without trees or other permanent ground cover, Chernobyl’s radionuclides would have been carried out of the zone by wind or water. —Jane Braxton Little, The Atlantic, 10 Aug. 2020

It’s named after Rateliff and his father’s practice of planting marigolds as nectar-producing ground cover, and a tribute to the dad who died in a car accident when Rateliff was 13. —John Wenzel, The Know, 7 Feb. 2020

Silver Carpet This grass alternative, also called lamb’s ear, resembles green grass and can be used as ground cover. —Angela Belt, House Beautiful, 5 Apr. 2023

Much of the garden has a field of yellow gazanias (Gazania rigens) as ground cover. —Caron Golden, San Diego Union-Tribune, 11 Mar. 2023

While crews were using drip torches to burn off dry ground cover that could feed oncoming flames, some personnel were reassigned to the Caldor fire, which was racing up the Sierra Nevada mountains toward South Lake Tahoe, one of California’s premier tourist destinations. —New York Times, 11 Oct. 2021

From a ground cover for a small tent to a rain and snow fly for a hunting camp or a cover for the woodpile over the winter, this tarp can do it all. —Field & Stream Commerce Team, Field & Stream, 14 Feb. 2023

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Word History

First Known Use

1900, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

ground cover

noun

: low-growing plants that cover the ground (as in a forest or in place of grass or a lawn)

also : a plant used as ground cover