1
: a young tree
specifically
: one not over four inches (about 10 centimeters) in diameter at breast height
2
Examples of sapling in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Farm laborers plant rice saplings at a waterlogged field at Patara village in Jalandhar on June 18, 2025.
—
Dan Gooding, MSNBC Newsweek, 24 June 2025
In 2009, the next year, a carpet of cork-tree saplings popped up.
—Robert Sullivan, Curbed, 9 June 2025
In Bellevue’s garden was a single vine of Vanilla planifolia, native to Mexico, that Jennings believes descended from one of the first vanilla saplings to survive on the island, after a shipment arrived from Paris in 1822.
—Jay Cheshes, Smithsonian Magazine, 20 May 2025
However, the exception is young saplings or fruit trees.
—Arricca Elin Sansone, Southern Living, 9 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for sapling
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Dan Gooding, MSNBC Newsweek, 24 June 2025
In 2009, the next year, a carpet of cork-tree saplings popped up.
—Robert Sullivan, Curbed, 9 June 2025
In Bellevue’s garden was a single vine of Vanilla planifolia, native to Mexico, that Jennings believes descended from one of the first vanilla saplings to survive on the island, after a shipment arrived from Paris in 1822.
—Jay Cheshes, Smithsonian Magazine, 20 May 2025
However, the exception is young saplings or fruit trees.
—Arricca Elin Sansone, Southern Living, 9 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for sapling
Cite this Entry
“Sapling.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sapling. Accessed 9 Jul. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
sapling
noun
sap·ling
ˈsap-liŋ 
: a young tree
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