thicket

noun thick·et \ ˈthi-kət \

Updated on: 8 Apr 2018

Definition of thicket

1 : a dense growth of shrubbery or small trees : copse

2 : something resembling a thicket in density or impenetrability : tangle

a political thicket

a thicket of reporters

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thickety

play \ˈthi-kə-tē\ adjective

See thicket defined for English-language learners

See thicket defined for kids

Examples of thicket in a Sentence

a dense thicket of rosebushes
flushed a pheasant from a thicket of willows

Recent Examples of thicket from the Web

One difference between then and now is that in early 2016 a thicket of credit, emerging market and currency concerns had investors and policy makers worrying that the economy could crack.

— justin lahart, WSJ, "Why Tumbling Stocks Didn’t Tank Treasury Yields," 2 Apr. 2018
And Fraser is the perfect audience proxy to lead us headfirst into the show’s thicket of lies and greed — dependable yet mysterious, trustworthy but battle-scarred, simultaneously strange and familiar all at once.

— anna silman, The Cut, "Brendan Fraser Is Giving the Most Delightful Performance on TV Right Now," 1 Apr. 2018
Recently, another local went collecting in the woods and got lost in the huge thicket, never to return.

— sophy roberts, Condé Nast Traveler, "Exploring Kamchatka, Russia's Adventure Playground," 22 Mar. 2018
Of course, creating a Data Protection Authority would introduce a dense thicket of questions.

— franklin foer, The Atlantic, "It’s Time to Regulate the Internet," 21 Mar. 2018
And astronomers might be able to detect this orbiting thicket of space hardware when the planet comes between us and its host star — what astronomers call a transit.

— NBC News, "Alien satellites might offer a new way to find E.T.," 19 Mar. 2018
The path to a possible meeting led through a thicket of hostility and feints.

— BostonGlobe.com, "With snap ‘yes,’ Trump rolls dice on North Korea," 11 Mar. 2018
Our favorite writers can lead us into ideological brier patches and ethical thickets.

— a.o. scott, New York Times, "In His New Collection, ‘The Rub of Time,’ Martin Amis Takes On Everyone From Travolta to Trump," 28 Feb. 2018
Callaghan takes a razor dipped in acid to slash through the thickets of the impossible standards of appearance and behavior men impose upon women — and that women then impose on themselves and each other.

— kerry reid, chicagotribune.com, "In 'Women Laughing Alone with Salad,' a playwright hilariously slices and dices questions of sex, advertising and body image," 22 Mar. 2018

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

Origin and Etymology of thicket

Middle English *thikket, from Old English thiccet, from thicce thick

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: before 12th century

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thicket Synonyms

Synonyms

brake, brushwood, chaparral, coppice, copse, covert;

Related Words

canebrake;

brush, bush, scrub, scrubland;

bramble, jungle, tangle;

grove, hedge, stand, woodlot;

forest, greenwood, wildwood, wood, woodland;

Other Botany Terms

annual, burgeon, chloroplast, nomenclature, succulent, sylvan, xylem

THICKET Defined for English Language Learners

thicket

noun

Definition of thicket for English Language Learners

: a group of bushes or small trees that grow close together

THICKET Defined for Kids

thicket

noun thick·et \ ˈthi-kət \

Definition of thicket for Students

: a thick usually small patch of bushes or low trees

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See words that rhyme with thicket Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for thicket Spanish Central: Translation of thicket Nglish: Translation of thicket for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of thicket for Arabic speakers Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about thicket

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thicket

Definition of thicket

thickety

Examples of thicket in a Sentence

Recent Examples of thicket from the Web

Origin and Etymology of thicket

thicket Synonyms

Synonyms

Related Words

Other Botany Terms

THICKET Defined for English Language Learners

thicket

Definition of thicket for English Language Learners

THICKET Defined for Kids

thicket

Definition of thicket for Students

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