woody
adjective
woody
1 American
[wood-ee]
/ ˈwʊd i /
woody
2
American
[wood-ee]
/ ˈwʊd i /
Or
woodie
noun
woodies
plural
-
Slang. a station wagon having wood or simulated-wood panels on the outside of the body.
-
Slang: Vulgar. an erection of the penis.
woody
3
American
[wuhd-ee, woo-dee]
/ ˈwʌd i, ˈwu di /
noun
woodies
plural
Woody
4
American
[wood-ee]
/ ˈwʊd i /
noun
woody
British
/ ˈwʊdɪ /
adjective
-
abounding in or covered with forest or woods
-
connected with, belonging to, or situated in a wood
-
consisting of or containing wood or lignin
woody tissue
woody stems
-
resembling wood in hardness or texture
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of woody1
First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English; see origin at wood 1, -y 1
Origin of woody2
First recorded in 1940–45 woody 2 for def. 2; in 1960–65 woody 2 for def. 1; wood 1 + -y 2
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:
They added logs and woody debris to the water to create deep pools and other places for baby fish to hide.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
Some of that carbon becomes woody tissue in the trunk, branches, and roots, where it can remain stored for decades, centuries, or even millennia.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 9, 2026
The cinnamon brought a warm, woody spice that tied everything together.
From Salon ● Mar. 17, 2026
But a few weeks into its growth cycle it becomes woody and stiff, thorny, unpalatable and, rapidly, enormous.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 17, 2025
I parked my bike against the first oak tree I came to and ran into the woody grove to find my dog.
From Each Little Bird That Sings by Deborah Wiles
A few more quick things that fascinated me: He met with Woody Allen in the 1960s to try and sell jokes, and there are tape recordings of this meeting!
From Salon ● Jul. 5, 2026
‘The Bear’ returns for its final season, Olivia Wilde directs a dinner-party dramedy, Woody and Buzz face down a tablet in ‘Toy Story 5,’ and much, much more.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 30, 2026
Woody plants that are commonly eaten or damaged by deer, including young oak trees, showed signs of recovery and growth.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 28, 2026
The sequel, which debuted over Father's Day weekend, features Woody the cowboy, Buzz Lightyear and their gang of toys fighting for survival against competition from technology, particularly a tablet.
From Barron's ● Jun. 21, 2026
I needed some grounding of my own, such as Woody had found when he went to commune with her and with our ancestors in Ka-ke.
From "Farewell to Manzanar" by Jeanne Houston
"They probably are cost-effective, rather than feeding each lizard three or four woodies, which are quite small, you could only give them one."
From BBC ● Jun. 5, 2026
Spring-planted woodies need handling with more care, and the earlier you can plant them, the more established they will be before summer.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 29, 2021
Signs made of surfboards, woodies parked by the valet stand and large surfing movie posters in the parking garage were considered and rejected, said Linda Berman, executive project director for developer DJM Capital Partners.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 11, 2014
Still, some parks invest in new woodies, where the suspense doesn’t come from wondering whether the rickety rails will survive the ride.
From New York Times ● Aug. 1, 2013
The woodies and weeds will be held back through early spring mowing and burning, timed to protect the meadow’s cycles of insect and bird life.
From Washington Post
“You could hear what you’re doing. It’s not scary to make soft attacks anymore. It’s not a bright, brittle sound anymore. It’s just a warmer, woodier sound instead of being bright and ugly.”
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 4, 2022
The longer they sit, the tougher and woodier they can become: Like ears of fresh corn, the sooner you can cook okra after picking, the sweeter and plumper it will be.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 13, 2022
But the trees are mostly beaten back with an annual cutting by a Bush Hog mower or in woodier areas a beefier machine called a forestry mulcher.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 14, 2018
Analysis of the island's plant life and its soil show that it has seen a major shift to bigger, woodier vegetation in the 100 years since the goats started stripping the undergrowth.
From BBC ● Oct. 28, 2014
Thus the plant clings to other woodier stems and climbs vicariously.
From Old Plymouth Trails by Packard, Winthrop
Snap off the woodiest parts of the asparagus and roughly chop these, setting the stalks aside for the moment.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 21, 2016
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.
