savanna
or sa·van·nah
a plain characterized by coarse grasses and scattered tree growth, especially on the margins of the tropics where the rainfall is seasonal, as in eastern Africa.
grassland region with scattered trees, grading into either open plain or woodland, usually in subtropical or tropical regions.
Origin of savanna
1Words Nearby savanna
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use savanna in a sentence
Fires in northern and central Australia’s dry, grassy savannas are seen as more climate neutral because the grasses can regrow more quickly, he says.
Australian fires in 2019–2020 had even more global reach than previously thought | Carolyn Gramling | September 15, 2021 | Science NewsThe tallgrass prairie of the Great Plains or the tropical savanna in the Cerrado of Brazil, by contrast, are natural grasslands full of life.
Currently, protected areas cover only about 8 percent of grasslands and savannas, according to his paper, compared with roughly 18 percent of forests.
The Cerrado savanna is one of Brazil’s most ecologically diverse regions.
Worse, wildfires are pushing the Amazon toward a dangerous tipping point that, some scientists say, could turn large swaths of the forest into a dry savanna.
The savanna-La-Mar Hurricane then moved onto Cuba, killing more than 1,000, in total.
In the morning, fueled by fresh fruit and anticipation, we thundered off to savanna-La-Mar.
After some perseverance in watching from the spot they had selected, they saw, one evening, camp fires far out on the savanna.
The Devil-Tree of El Dorado | Frank AubreyBeyond it stretched a savanna, where our pilot told us we should find abundance of small birds.
In the Wilds of Florida | W.H.G. KingstonIt was my first savanna sparrow's nest, whether eastern or western.
Birds of the Rockies | Leander Sylvester KeyserThe jabiru, the largest bird in Guiana, feeds in the marshy savanna through which you have just passed.
Wanderings in South America | Charles WatertonFrom hence you proceed, in a south-west direction, through a long swampy savanna.
Wanderings in South America | Charles Waterton
British Dictionary definitions for savanna
savannah
/ (səˈvænə) /
open grasslands, usually with scattered bushes or trees, characteristic of much of tropical Africa
Origin of savanna
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for savanna
A flat, grass-covered area of tropical or subtropical regions, nearly treeless in some places but generally having a mix of widely spaced trees and bushes. Savannas have distinct wet and dry seasons, with the mix of vegetation dependent primarily on the relative length of the two seasons.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Cultural definitions for savanna
A tropical land mass of grassland and scattered trees.
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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