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

By Carrie Dennis In front of me were six miles of open plain, distant peaks, blue sky, and a herd of nearly 50 horses thundering through sagebrush and wildflowers, flinging rocks from under their shoes. —Carrie Dennis, Travel + Leisure, 14 June 2025

The unanimous decision comes after an appeal to the high court from backers of the project, which is aimed at quadrupling oil production in the remote area of sandstone and sagebrush. —Barney Henderson, MSNBC Newsweek, 29 May 2025

The greater sage-grouse lives on the sagebrush steppe in western North America. —Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian Magazine, 7 May 2025

The town of Rock Springs sprouts out of a vacant landscape of sandstone cliffs and sagebrush in southern Wyoming. —Michael Luo, The New Yorker, 3 Mar. 2025

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.