incense cedar
Americannoun
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a tree of the cypress family’s genus Calocedrus, especially C. decurrens California incense cedar of western North America, which may grow to more than 190 feet (58 meters) in height.
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the aromatic, close-grained wood of this tree, used to make pencils, chests, closet linings, etc.
Etymology
Origin of incense cedar
An Americanism dating back to 1865–70
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.
A canopy of Jeffrey pine, red fir and incense cedar shaded the trail.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 28, 2025
The remainder were sugar pine, noble fir, red fir, incense cedar, western red cedar, mountain hemlock and western hemlock.
From Science Daily • Dec. 28, 2023
As she trudged past the remnant of a felled incense cedar, Cicely Muldoon, the superintendent of the park, acknowledged that the notion of cutting trees in Yosemite could be hard to explain to the public.
From New York Times • Jul. 27, 2022
“Fortunately, there are many alternative tree species, including Oregon white oak, incense cedar and Chinese pistache, that might be more heat and drought resistant than ash.”
From Seattle Times • Jul. 11, 2022
Fir and incense cedar should be marked, as a rule, to as low a diameter as these trees are merchantable in order to reduce the proportion of these species in coming reproduction.
From Practical Forestry in the Pacific Northwest Protecting Existing Forests and Growing New Ones, from the Standpoint of the Public and That of the Lumberman, with an Outline of Technical Methods by Allen, Edward Tyson
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.
