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• glen
  glen

  noun

  a small, narrow, secluded valley.
• Glen
  Glen

  noun

  a male or female given name.

glen

¹ American  

[glen] / glɛn /

noun

• glens
  plural

1. a small, narrow, secluded valley.

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Glen ² American  

[glen] / glɛn /

noun

1. a male or female given name.

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glen British  

/ ɡlɛn /

noun

1. a narrow and deep mountain valley, esp in Scotland or Ireland

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• glenlike
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• glens
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of glen

1480–90; < Irish, Scots Gaelic gleann; cognate with Welsh glynn

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Explanation

A glen is a narrow valley deep in the mountains. Glens often form streams. The top of a mountain is the peak, and the lower parts are valleys. A glen is a valley that's narrow and secluded—it’s deep in the mountains. A glen could form a stream, or it could be lush and green. If you are on top of a mountain looking down, you may see several glens.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

glen Glen glens

According to the trust, thousands of years ago the glen would have been a native woodland but it was left bare by human intervention such as grazing sheep and deer.

From BBC ● Apr. 28, 2025

Rosie was pulled up to a stretcher, from where she could be carried down the glen to an ambulance.

From BBC ● Feb. 2, 2024

Each non-Pee-wee appearance required the audience to recalibrate our expectations and remove Reubens from the glen plaid suits and pomade-slicked hairdo for which we came to know him.

From Salon ● Aug. 1, 2023

Indeed, consumers may want their vehicles not only to look good in, say, a wooded glen, but also to project the very idea that they care about wooded glens.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 7, 2023

At noon of the fifth day a voice called from the glen: “I know you are there!”

From "My Side of the Mountain" by Jean Craighead George

Do you think your connection was due to your similar backgrounds — you in Oklahoma, Glen in Arkansas?

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 2, 2026

Glen Crooks, 70, who used to perform at the Bamboo Club when he was younger, remembers "sneaking in" with his friends when they were young.

From BBC ● Oct. 24, 2026

As they fall further, Hoover and Glen Canyon dams could lose their capacity to provide water and power downstream and even become vulnerable to physical damage.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 22, 2026

Alfa Romeo's Bruno Giacomelli leads the final US Grand Prix at Watkins Glen in 1980 as Williams' Alan Jones goes off line and throws up dust behind him.

From BBC ● Oct. 19, 2026

Jobs had returned, and Glen finally found more steady work.

From "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson

The annual Manx Wildlife Week aims to encourage people to connect with the island's countryside, glens, hills and sea, as well as the creatures and plants that inhabit them.

From BBC ● Apr. 25, 2026

There will likely be no vistas of forest canopy, no shaded glens with water cascading through a tapestry of conifers, pine sap spicing the morning air.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 28, 2025

There are suspicions the Cairngorms lynx are abandoned pets, or were let go by people who want to see the animals reinstated to wooded hills and glens.

From BBC ● Feb. 13, 2025

Although most of the park fills up daily with birthday parties, off-leash dogs, and brass bands, it’s also home to a network of shady glens, murmuring creeks, and still ponds.

From Slate ● Aug. 31, 2023

Wolves would cower in the glens like foxes when they caught that deadly scent.

From "Grendel" by John Gardner

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