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chaparral

American  
[shap-uh-ral, chap-] / ˌʃæp əˈræl, ˌtʃæp- /

noun

Southwestern U.S.

  1. a dense growth of shrubs or small trees.

chaparral British  
/ ˌtʃæpəˈræl, ˌʃæp- /

noun

  1. (in the southwestern US) a dense growth of shrubs and trees, esp evergreen oaks

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of chaparral

1835–45, < Spanish, equivalent to chaparr ( o ) evergreen oak (< Basque tshapar ) + -al collective suffix

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.

But Alexandra Syphard, a fire ecologist at the Conservation Biology Institute, noted that 50 years is still relatively early in the chaparral fire cycle.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 27, 2025

Other chaparral plants do not rely on fire but instead simply tolerate it.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 27, 2025

Most chaparral plants are adapted to this fire cycle.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 27, 2025

Below are thickets of green chaparral and densely packed homes.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 26, 2025

Like cottontail rabbits and chaparral birds and a baby possum that sulked and lay like dead for the first several hours until he finally decided that Arliss wasn’t going to hurt him.

From "Old Yeller" by Fred Gipson

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.