arboreal
Americanadjective
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of or relating to trees; treelike.
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Also living in or among trees.
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Zoology. adapted for living and moving about in trees, as the limbs and skeleton of opossums, squirrels, monkeys, and apes.
adjective
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of, relating to, or resembling a tree
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living in or among trees
arboreal monkeys
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of arboreal
First recorded in 1660–70; from Latin arbore(us) “of trees,” equivalent to arbor “tree” + -eus- -eous + -al 1
Explanation
If it has to do with trees, you can call it arboreal. Monkeys that live in trees are arboreal. The rings of a tree are an indication of arboreal age. The word arboreal comes from the Latin arboreus, which means "pertaining to trees." It's a word that refers not just to animals that live in trees, but also to anything that resembles the branching form of a tree — like a chandelier or a family geology drawn out. It even can be used to describe, as its Latin root suggests, something pertaining to trees. A Christmas tree shop is an arboreal wonderland. There are trees everywhere!
Vocabulary lists containing arboreal
300 Most Difficult "SAT" Words
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Stump Speech: Tree Terminology
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This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for March 12–March 18, 2022
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Prof Russell Wynn, Director of Wild New Forest, said the Little Arboreal Ladybird's had been found in moth traps across the New Forest but "there were no confirmed British Records prior to this influx".
From BBC • Sep. 14, 2025
The year is 2038, and Greenwood Arboreal Cathedral, as it’s called, is home to “one of the last remaining old-growth forests on Earth.”
From New York Times • Feb. 25, 2020
Arboreal animals usually demand a high intelligence to navigate through a three-dimensional world.
From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2017
Arboreal experts are only now beginning to assess the severity of the problem.
From Time Magazine Archive
There was Mr Montmorency, the Arboreal House-Agent, seated between the two brisk young men who were occasionally vicars, and always Professional Detainers.
From The Club of Queer Trades by Chesterton, G. K. (Gilbert Keith)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
