rain forest

Definition of rain forest

1 : a tropical woodland with an annual rainfall of at least 100 inches (254 centimeters) and marked by lofty broad-leaved evergreen trees forming a continuous canopy

— called also tropical rain forest

2 : temperate rain forest

Examples of rain forest in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Almost 11 million foreign tourists arrived in India last year, government data showed, as Modi’s administration unveiled a campaign to showcase everything from the country’s mountains to deserts and rain forests to wildlife parks. — Anurag Kotoky, chicagotribune.com, "Tourists avoid Delhi as air pollution reaches record levels," 7 Nov. 2019 Unfortunately, meteorologists don’t know what the weather is like over the entire planet: Absent is surface data from areas such as oceans and large uninhabited regions, such as rain forests and deserts. — Samantha Durbin, Washington Post, "What are weather models, exactly, and how do they work?," 18 May 2018 Major tourist draws like La Mina waterfall and the Yocahu Tower, with panoramic views of the rain forest and coast, were out of reach. — New York Times, "In Puerto Rico, Waiting for Power, for Tourists, for the Flowers," 7 May 2018 That growth can make the sloths appear green, which helps to camouflage them in the rain forest canopy. — Billy Kobin, The Courier-Journal, "Say hello to Louisville's new two-toed friends as Louisville Zoo welcomes pair of sloths," 3 Jan. 2020 The incentive to clear more rainforest for pasture became hard to resist, and the result was a surge in the cattle laundering practice that has undermined the deals and ravaged Brazil’s rain forests. — Clifford Krauss, New York Times, "Why Amazon Fires Keep Raging 10 Years After a Deal to End Them," 6 Oct. 2019 The widespread use of fire to deliberately clear the rain forest not only endangers its rich biodiversity but also releases carbon into the atmosphere, ultimately contributing to global warming. — Jim Daley, Scientific American, "Deforestation Intensifies Warming in the Amazon Rain Forest," 18 Sep. 2019 Last month a sharp increase in fires in the rain forest, as compared with the previous year, set off an international outcry. — Jim Daley, Scientific American, "Deforestation Intensifies Warming in the Amazon Rain Forest," 18 Sep. 2019 The Golden Gate Park museum encompasses the Steinhart Aquarium, Morrison Planetarium, a living rain forest beneath a 90-foot (27.43 m) glass dome, and a remarkable, environmentally friendly green roof. — Joe Yogerst, National Geographic, "How to visit the best park museums in the U.S. and Canada," 13 Mar. 2019

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

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Last Updated

28 Jan 2020

Cite this Entry

“Rain forest.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rain%20forest. Accessed 18 Feb. 2020.

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