manzanita
Americannoun
-
manzanitas
plural
-
any of several western North American shrubs or small trees belonging to the genus Arctostaphylos, of the heath family, having leathery leaves and clusters of white to pink flowers.
-
the fruit of one of these shrubs.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of manzanita
1840–50, < Spanish, diminutive of manzana apple; see manchineel
Compare meaning
How does manzanita compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
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:
Then brush, predominantly whitethorn and manzanita, interspersed in waist-high thickets.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 28, 2025
Hikers can see California buckwheat, arroyo willow, black sage, big berry manzanita and hairy ceanothus.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 8, 2024
On the slopes, manzanita bushes and blades of grass were poking through patches of what little snow had landed.
From New York Times ● Dec. 28, 2023
Ample spacing also keeps air moving around the manzanita.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 7, 2023
In the afternoon heat they snooze in the dusty dirt beneath that tangle of manzanita trees.
From "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan
Working with Terremoto’s team, Horvitz planted about 100 native plants, including elderberry, sage, brittlebrush and manzanitas.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 4, 2025
Bohl and her husband removed the lawn and laid 2 inches of river rock approximately 3/4 to 1-inch wide, planting with agaves, manzanitas and yuccas.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 12, 2024
Ceanothus blooms also don’t last much longer than a day once they’re cut, and manzanitas, large shrubs with reddish limbs and dainty bell-shaped flowers, “are just too precious” to potentially damage by cutting, she said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 2, 2024
They had protected a swath of homes tucked deep into stands of pines, sycamores and manzanitas, but they were exhausted.
From New York Times ● Sep. 27, 2015
The first wild flowers of the season are beginning to venture out and the manzanitas are a sight to see.
From The Letters of Ambrose Bierce With a Memoir by George Sterling by Ambrose Bierce
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.
