cedar
Americannoun
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any of several Old World, coniferous trees of the genus Cedrus, having wide, spreading branches.
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any of various junipers, as the red cedar, Juniperus virginiana, of the cypress family, having reddish-brown bark and dark-blue, berrylike fruit.
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any of various other coniferous trees.
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any of several trees belonging to the genus Cedrela, of the mahogany family, as the Spanish cedar.
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Also called cedarwood. the fragrant wood of any of these trees, used in furniture and as a moth repellent.
noun
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any Old World coniferous tree of the genus Cedrus, having spreading branches, needle-like evergreen leaves, and erect barrel-shaped cones: family Pinaceae See also cedar of Lebanon deodar
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any of various other conifers, such as the red cedars and white cedars
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the wood of any of these trees
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any of certain other plants, such as the Spanish cedar
adjective
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of cedar
before 1000; Middle English cedir, Old English ceder < Latin cedrus < Greek kédros; replacing Middle English cedre < Old French < Latin, as above
Explanation
A cedar is an evergreen tree with a particularly fragrant wood. The trees in your yard that keep their green needles through the winter might be cedars. There are many different varieties of cedars, including a popular Christmas tree in the Southern US, the Eastern Red Cedar. Cedars are probably best known for the strong, appealing scent of their wood, which is often used to line storage chests or closets, both for the smell and its tendency to repel moths. The Greek root of cedar is kedros.
Vocabulary lists containing cedar
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.
See Examples For:
Its species name, cedrus, refers to cedar trees, evergreen conifers similar to those that existed in Late Triassic forests.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 23, 2026
But he then pointed to the deodar cedar next to where his brother’s house stood.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 8, 2025
These 4,600-year-old funerary boats, made of cedar and acacia, were intended to transport the king into the afterlife.
From Barron's ● Nov. 4, 2025
The room smelled strongly of cedar, which came from an oval soaking tub at the center of the bathroom.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 25, 2025
Around a stump, over a mound of leaves, past a cedar tree—there were the saplings, and there lay the rat, still on his side.
From "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH" by Robert C. O'Brien
"Previously, it was spruces or cedars, but today, we find endemic species better adapted to the climate," Merdan Arazmedov, a member of Turkmenistan's Nature Protection Society, told AFP.
From Barron's ● Dec. 18, 2025
Calvin turned on East Las Flores Drive, threading under the canopy of crape myrtles, pines and deodar cedars, and pulled up to his Midcentury ranch home and ran next door to check on his mom.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 17, 2025
Plans are being made to relight the cedars on Christmas Tree Lane as soon as possible, in a show of community resilience.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 17, 2025
Altadena’s Christmas Tree Lane is a beloved, low-tech holiday event featuring lights strung over 135 massive deodar cedars — all thanks to volunteers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 15, 2025
We make our way through the gate, passing a long row of ancient cedars.
From "The Bletchley Riddle" by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin
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.
