Illustration of sweet gum
- sweet gum 1
sweet gum
noun
1
: a North American tree (Liquidambar styraciflua of the family Altingiaceae, the sweet gum family) of the witch-hazel family with palmately lobed glossy green leaves, corky twigs, a round spiny brown fruit cluster, and hard wood
2
: the smooth reddish-brown wood of the sweet gum
Examples of sweet gum in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Slender Silhouette sweet gum is a tree with a tight, columnar shape.
—
Luke Miller, Better Homes & Gardens, 27 June 2025
Also, most sweet gums and sycamores sustain minimal damage.
—Tom MacCubbin, The Orlando Sentinel, 25 May 2025
Evergreens welcomes visitors for stargazing, and arborists lead tours among its dogwood, sweet gum and European weeping beech trees.
—Maria Cramer, New York Times, 16 Feb. 2025
Four of those sweet gums are now about fifty feet tall within their pyramidal crowns.
—John McPhee, The New Yorker, 13 Jan. 2025
Trees available for purchase include ones harvested from George Washington’s sweet gum at Mount Vernon, southern magnolias from the farm of President Jimmy Carter, and even a selection of tree sprouts that traveled on the 1984 Space Shuttle Discovery Flight.
—Jessica Farthing, Southern Living, 2 Jan. 2025
Other species, such as red maples and sweet gums, produce new pigments—red and purple anthocyanins—especially for the fall.
—Meghan Bartels, Scientific American, 18 Oct. 2024
Shiitake mushrooms grow best on oak, but other hardwoods such as elm, sweet gum, maple, and alder also work well.
—Rita Pelczar, Better Homes & Gardens, 13 July 2024
Overhead some osprey, a hawk and a bald eagle glided among the nearby tupelo, sweet gum and oak-hackberry forest trees.
—Ricky Carioti, Washington Post, 5 July 2024
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Luke Miller, Better Homes & Gardens, 27 June 2025
Also, most sweet gums and sycamores sustain minimal damage.
—Tom MacCubbin, The Orlando Sentinel, 25 May 2025
Evergreens welcomes visitors for stargazing, and arborists lead tours among its dogwood, sweet gum and European weeping beech trees.
—Maria Cramer, New York Times, 16 Feb. 2025
Four of those sweet gums are now about fifty feet tall within their pyramidal crowns.
—John McPhee, The New Yorker, 13 Jan. 2025
Trees available for purchase include ones harvested from George Washington’s sweet gum at Mount Vernon, southern magnolias from the farm of President Jimmy Carter, and even a selection of tree sprouts that traveled on the 1984 Space Shuttle Discovery Flight.
—Jessica Farthing, Southern Living, 2 Jan. 2025
Other species, such as red maples and sweet gums, produce new pigments—red and purple anthocyanins—especially for the fall.
—Meghan Bartels, Scientific American, 18 Oct. 2024
Shiitake mushrooms grow best on oak, but other hardwoods such as elm, sweet gum, maple, and alder also work well.
—Rita Pelczar, Better Homes & Gardens, 13 July 2024
Overhead some osprey, a hawk and a bald eagle glided among the nearby tupelo, sweet gum and oak-hackberry forest trees.
—Ricky Carioti, Washington Post, 5 July 2024
Cite this Entry
“Sweet gum.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sweet%20gum. Accessed 16 Jul. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share