growth ring

noun

|Updated on: 22 Jun 2018

Definition of growth ring

: a layer of wood (such as an annual ring) produced during a single period of growth

Recent Examples of growth ring from the Web

Unlike trees such as redwoods and oaks, baobabs can’t simply be aged by counting their growth rings; as the trees grow, their rings fade or are erased, and their giant interior cavities make the remaining traces difficult to count.

— National Geographic, "Africa's Oldest Trees Are Dying, and Scientists Are Stumped," 11 June 2018
Certain types including oak show cellular-level damage when swamped, and which is visible in the trees’ growth rings, providing an annual record of when the river overflowed.

— stephanie pappas, Scientific American, "Taming the Mighty Mississippi May Have Caused Bigger Floods," 10 Apr. 2018
Inundate an oak tree for a couple weeks and that year’s growth ring will show damage at the cellular level.

— adam rogers, WIRED, "Too Much Engineering Has Made Mississippi River Floods Worse," 4 Apr. 2018

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