an area of woods, parks, or open land surrounding a community.
Also green belt a strip of land on the edge of a desert that has been planted and irrigated to keep the desert from spreading.
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Africa’s Great Green Wall is an ambitious project to counter the expansion of the Sahara Desert by planting a 5,000-mile greenbelt across the continent, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 10, 2025
Sevenoaks councillor Julia Thornton said it was a "top priority" to protect greenbelt land, but added: "We will have a duty to do everything possible to meet the government's new housing targets."
From BBC • Jan. 9, 2025
The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead refused to grant planning permission earlier this year, citing its impact on the greenbelt.
From BBC • Oct. 22, 2024
That’s because, unbeknownst to most residents, the greenbelt wasn’t built on solid earth.
From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 15, 2023
Behind them the spires of New Pretty Town rose from the center of town, and around them was the greenbelt, a swath of forest that separated the middle and the late pretties from the youngsters.
From "Uglies" by Scott Westerfeld
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.
