sagebrush

noun

sage·​brush ˈsāj-ˌbrəsh 

: any of several North American hoary composite subshrubs (genus Artemisia)

especially : one (A. tridentata) having a bitter juice and an odor resembling sage and often covering vast tracts of alkaline plains in the western U.S.

Examples of sagebrush in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Several rows of California sagebrush, California buckwheat, chaparral beard tongue, sticky monkey flower and more sat in their pots, awaiting their new homes in the nearby ground. —Jaclyn Cosgrove, Los Angeles Times, 12 Mar. 2026

Weed pollen from ragweed, thistle, sagebrush, and mugwort typically peaks later in summer and early fall, with the highest weed pollen levels expected across the Rockies this year. —Michele Laufik, Martha Stewart, 4 Mar. 2026

Later in summer and into early fall, weed pollen from ragweed, sagebrush, and thistle will take over. —Jessica Safavimehr, Southern Living, 4 Mar. 2026

During the growing season, the more than 240,000 panels of the Clover Creek Solar Project are kept free of sagebrush by sheep that happily graze between the lines, napping in the shade of the panels during the hottest parts of the day. —Elizabeth Weise, USA Today, 21 Feb. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1850, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for sagebrush

• underbrush
• airbrush
• hairbrush
• inrush
• onrush
• paintbrush
• blush
• brush
• crush
• flush
• gush
• hush

Kids Definition

sagebrush

noun

sage·​brush ˈsāj-ˌbrəsh 

: any of several low shrubby North American plants related to the daisies

especially : a common plant with a bitter juice that smells like sage and is widespread on the plains of the western U.S.