chaparral
Americannoun
noun
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.
Nothing but dirt and dry, brown chaparral rolled beneath skis and snowboards dangling from a chairlift at Big Bear Mountain Resort on Friday, as forlorn adventure seekers joked they should rename the place “Big Bare.”
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 22, 2025
Most chaparral plants are adapted to this fire cycle.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 27, 2025
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
Left alone, chaparral typically burns every 30 to 130 years, historically due to lightning strikes.
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 14, 2025
Bright emerald grass contrasts with the brown chaparral that hovers above it.
From "The Adoration of Jenna Fox" by Mary E. Pearson
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.
