forest

American  

[fawr-ist, for-] / ˈfɔr ɪst, ˈfɒr- /

noun

• forests
  plural

1. a large tract of land covered with trees and underbrush; woodland.

2. the trees on such a tract.

   to cut down a forest.

3. a tract of wooded grounds in England formerly belonging to the sovereign and set apart for game.

4. a thick cluster of vertical objects.

   a forest of church spires.

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verb (used with object)

1. to supply or cover with trees; convert into a forest.

forest British  

/ ˈfɒrɪst /

noun

1. a large wooded area having a thick growth of trees and plants

2. the trees of such an area

3. an area planted with exotic pines or similar trees Compare bush 1

4. something resembling a large wooded area, esp in density

   a forest of telegraph poles

5. law (formerly) an area of woodland, esp one owned by the sovereign and set apart as a hunting ground with its own laws and officers Compare park

6. (modifier) of, involving, or living in a forest or forests

   a forest glade

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verb

1. (tr) to create a forest (in); plant with trees

forest Scientific  

/ fôr′ĭst /

1. A growth of trees covering a large area. Forests exist in all regions of the Earth except for regions of extreme cold or dryness.

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forest Idioms  

1. see can't see the forest for the trees.

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Usage

What does forest mean? A forest is a large area of land that’s covered in trees. The word forest can also refer collectively to those trees. An area that’s covered in trees can be described with the adjective forested. Less commonly, forest can be used as a verb meaning to cover an area with trees. This sense of the word is used in the terms deforestation (the clearing of a forested area) and reforesting (planting trees in a woodland that has been deforested or destroyed by a forest fire). Sometimes, forest is used in a figurative way to refer to a collection of vertical objects clustered together, as in Many of these new cities look like forests of skyscrapers. Example: We were deep in the forest, with no roads or buildings for miles.

Synonym Usage

Forest, grove, wood refer to an area covered with trees. A forest is an extensive area, preserving some or all of its primitive wildness and usually having game or wild animals in it: Sherwood Forest; the Black Forest. A grove is a group or cluster of trees, usually not very large in area and cleared of underbrush. It is usually tended or cultivated: a shady grove; a grove of pines; an orange grove; a walnut grove. Woods (or a wood ) resembles a forest but is a smaller tract of land, less wild in character, and generally closer to civilization: lost in the woods; a wood covering several acres.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonforest
  noun
• forest-like
  adjective
• forestal
  adjective
• forested
  adjective
• forestial
  adjective
• forestless
  adjective
• forestlike
  adjective
• nonforested
  adjective
• unforested
  adjective
• well-forested
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• forests
  plural

Etymology

Origin of forest

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English, from Old French, from Late Latin forestis (silva) “an unenclosed wood” (as opposed to a park), derivative of Latin forīs “outside.” Cf. foreign

Explanation

A forest is a densely wooded area, or land covered with trees and shrubs. As a verb it means to establish a forest where none existed before. Famous forests include the Sherwood Forest of Nottinghamshire, England, associated with legend of Robin Hood; the Black Forest of southwestern Germany, so named because it's so dense that very little light enters it; the Amazon Rainforest in Brazil (and 8 other countries of South America); and the forests that make up the Redwood National and State Parks of California, where you can find the tallest trees on earth.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

forest forests

Eventually, they turned off the road onto a path through the forest.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 11, 2026

Walking through the forest, the scale of what happened is almost haunting.

From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026

A further comment said the site had become waterlogged, turning a "once beautiful forest" into a "fly-tipping incident".

From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026

The orangutan clings to the top of a mostly leafless tree in Indonesia's Borneo, as waves of thick smoke from the forest fires burning below waft over her.

From Barron's ● Oct. 9, 2026

The forest shadows were deepening beneath the setting sun.

From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman

Bogs currently store twice as much carbon as all the world’s forests but are disappearing faster.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026

The monal, a pheasant native to Himalayan mountain forests, is deeply woven into the region's cultural, folklore and identity.

From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026

Currently, the birds are found in alpine meadows, located high in the mountains above the forests, which form some of the Himalayas' most important seasonal grazing and biodiversity-rich habitats.

From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026

The reality is more interesting, as our new research on a long-forgotten experiment in Victoria’s mountain ash forests reveals.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 4, 2026

Lugging packs weighing more than fifty pounds, the young men slogged across muddy rice fields and cut through dense forests.

From "Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War" by Steve Sheinkin

Related Words

• jungle
• park
• thicket
• timber
• wood
• woodland