conifer
Americannoun
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any of numerous, chiefly evergreen trees or shrubs of the class Coniferinae (or group Coniferales), including the pine, fir, spruce, and other cone-bearing trees and shrubs, and also the yews and their allies that bear drupelike seeds.
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a plant producing naked seeds in cones, or single naked seeds as in yews, but with pollen always borne in cones.
noun
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Any of various gymnosperms that bear their reproductive structures in cones and belong to the phylum Coniferophyta. Conifers evolved around 300 million years ago and, as a group, show many adaptations to drier and cooler environments. They are usually evergreen and often have drought-resistant leaves that are needle-shaped or scalelike. They depend on the wind to blow pollen produced by male cones to female cones, where fertilization takes place and seeds develop. Conifers are widely distributed, but conifer species dominate the northern forest biome known as the taiga. There are some 550 species of conifers, including the pines, firs, spruces, hemlocks, cypresses, junipers, yews, and redwoods.
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See more at pollination seed-bearing plant
Etymology
Origin of conifer
1350–1400; Middle English conefere < Latin cōnifer coniferous, equivalent to cōn ( us ) cone + -i- + -fer -fer
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.
The conifer forests, which were heavily logged over the last century, will be managed by the tribal government as two protected areas, the Blue Creek Salmon Sanctuary and the Yurok Tribal Community Forest.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 14, 2025
Angiosperms, or flowering plants, grew back faster and denser than the previously ubiquitous conifer relatives had been.
From Slate • Oct. 21, 2024
A nonnative tree-killing insect is invading northern Utah, attacking subalpine fir and potentially triggering yet another die-off of the region's long-stressed conifer forests.
From Science Daily • May 14, 2024
The corridor offers sightseeing, sports and history amid conifer forests, alpine passes and more — but you’ll have to slow down a bit.
From Seattle Times • Feb. 28, 2024
Even though most of Japan escaped the glaciers that blanketed Britain and Canada, Japan was still cold, dry, and extensively covered with conifer and birch forests offering little plant food to humans.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
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.
