lush
1 Americanadjective
-
lusher,
comparative
-
lushest
superlative
adjective
-
(of vegetation) abounding in lavish growth
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(esp of fruits) succulent and fleshy
-
luxurious, elaborate, or opulent
noun
-
a heavy drinker, esp an alcoholic
-
alcoholic drink
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of lush1
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English lusch “slack”; of disputed origin; perhaps cognate with Old English lysu “bad,” lēas “lax,” Middle Low German lasch “slack,” Old Norse lǫskr “weak,” Gothic lasiws “weak”; alternatively, perhaps from Old French lasche “cowardly, loose,” adjective derivative of laschier “to loosen,” from Late Latin laxicāre, derivative of laxāre; see relax ( def. )
Origin of lush2
First recorded in 1780–90; perhaps facetious application of lush 1
Explanation
Lush describes something growing in abundance, like the lush green grass that covers the lawn in the spring. Lush usually describes thick healthy plant growth, like the jungles of the rainforest that were so lush you couldn't walk through without chopping down branches. (Then it wasn't so lush anymore...oops!) Lush also means "plush" or even "extravagant" — like a thick shag carpet, music with lots of layers, or a bedroom wallpapered in velvet. Plants full of juice are lush, which is perhaps why a person who drinks too much alcohol is called a lush.
Vocabulary lists containing lush
The Vernal Vocabulary of Spring
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The Things They Carried
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Fallen Angels
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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.
See Examples For:
The property includes 300 feet of frontage and lush landscaping.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 19, 2026
Finally, the Daily Star's splashes on a picture of Jeremy Clarkson's lawn, which the paper says has remained lush and green because of a borehole water trick as millions struggle with a wider hosepipe ban.
From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026
Lynch, and if his lush Britishness has a viewer thinking about Jeremy Irons, they’ve both done “Lion Kings,” Mr. Irons the original, Mr. Lynch on stage.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026
On one side goes lemon mayonnaise, our acid-fat lever: rich enough to keep the turkey lush, sharp enough to wake it up.
From Salon ● Jul. 30, 2026
And there were so many trees, lush and green, peppered by only a few houses.
From "As Brave As You" by Jason Reynolds
I suspect Nick will finally come out of the closet, and those East Egg lushes will reappear in the 1420s, the 1720s and space.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 28, 2020
There's a late-night grilled cheese place just a few blocks down the street from my apartment up here in Canada, one frequented by the local students and lushes on weekend evenings.
From The Verge ● Apr. 8, 2016
If we ever launch a space capsule documenting the drinking traditions of Earth for the benefit of extraterrestrial lushes, we should choose this one to represent the bloody mary.
From Slate ● Dec. 31, 2014
Titans is a retread, clogged with louche lushes in tuxes and gowns, its old-money family saga as tired as the Williams bloodline.
From Time Magazine Archive
There he stood now, his right hand out, palm upward, his lips curled in the ghastly imitation of a smile, blue gums and yellow lushes showing, a sight to freeze the blood with horror.
From Darkness and Dawn by George Allan England
Some of the lusher scraps—velvets, taffetas, silks, lace—I turned into sumptuous ballgowns for my sister’s proto-Barbie doll.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2025
Muddier hues give way to lusher colors as they go deeper into the abandoned streets of Boston.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 15, 2023
Hoylake was parched when Woods won in 2006, famously using his driver just once over the four days, while McIlroy triumphed on a lusher course after third-round rainstorms.
From BBC ● Jul. 19, 2023
To the east of the Great Plains lie the wetter and lusher Eastern Woodlands, extending from the Mississippi River basin to the Atlantic coast.
From Textbooks ● Apr. 19, 2023
But the crotons were lusher than ever and the variegated bougainvilleas she hadn’t thought would take were heavy with pink blossoms.
From "In the Time of the Butterflies" by Julia Alvarez
Robin Pecknold’s exquisite lockdown tunes pining for nature on 2020’s “Shore” should sound right at home in one of the Seattle area’s lushest venues — if you can afford it.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 11, 2022
But her solo material has tended towards Americana, and On the Line is her lushest, most melodic record to date.
From BBC ● Mar. 24, 2019
We had a picnic on a highway median in California one time—it seemed like a park to us—and it was the lushest grass I had ever seen.
From Slate ● Jan. 27, 2017
I wanted to break at Indian Garden, one of the lushest and shadiest spots in the canyon and an area once farmed by Native Americans.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 5, 2017
He could hop onto it and trek right on back to the RV, which, relative to his present surroundings, is the world’s lushest palace full of what Dad would call “first-world luxuries.”
From "Clean Getaway" by Nic Stone
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.
