sylvan
Americanadjective
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of, relating to, or inhabiting the woods.
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consisting of or abounding in woods or trees; wooded; woody.
a shady, sylvan glade.
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made of trees, branches, boughs, etc.
noun
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a person dwelling in a woodland region.
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a mythical deity or spirit of the woods.
adjective
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of, characteristic of, or consisting of woods or forests
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living or located in woods or forests
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idyllically rural or rustic
noun
Etymology
Origin of sylvan
1555–65; < Latin sylvānus, spelling variant of silvānus, equivalent to silv ( a ) forest + -ānus -an
Explanation
The adjective sylvan refers to a shady, wooded area. The word suggests a peaceful, pleasant feeling, as though you were far away from the noise of modern life. As a noun, sylvan means a being that inhabits the woods. The Roman god of woods and fields was known as Silvanus, sometimes also known as the half-man, half-goat sylvan called Pan. Shakespeare’s character Puck, in A Midsummer Night's Dream, seems based on a sylvan, and other authors used the image as well. The adjectival use of the Middle French word sylvain evolved in the mid-16th century. The word is most often used today to describe an idyllic wooded area.
Vocabulary lists containing sylvan
Hidden Figures
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The Waste Land
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"Ode on a Grecian Urn" by John Keats
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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.
From the village of Malham we hiked to Malham Cove, which rose in near miraculous silver splendor among the sylvan greenery, and then ascended the nearly 500 steps to its top.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 14, 2026
Are you up for another sylvan frolic, courtesy of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine?
From Los Angeles Times ● May 9, 2023
Consider the hectares and hectares of fences and hedges, often erected at considerable cost to transform a yard, and certainly a pool, into an owner’s sylvan duchy.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 20, 2022
According to the DSM-5, my trauma originated in learning about Jason’s trauma; it arose in that moment when I stepped off the veranda beside that sylvan lake and checked my email.
From New York Times ● Jul. 5, 2022
Ihe sylvan fields, forests, and shores had been mowed down, paved over, and built up with roads, bridges, hospitals, boatyards, jails, and military bases, cities in and of themselves.
From "Hidden Figures" by Margot Lee Shetterly
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.
