FOREST (forest)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected form: forest   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does forest mean? 

• FOREST (noun)
  The noun FOREST has 2 senses:

1. the trees and other plants in a large densely wooded area

2. land that is covered with trees and shrubs

  Familiarity information: FOREST used as a noun is rare.

• FOREST (verb)
  The verb FOREST has 1 sense:

1. establish a forest on previously unforested land

  Familiarity information: FOREST used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FOREST (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The trees and other plants in a large densely wooded area

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Synonyms:

forest; wood; woods

Hypernyms ("forest" is a kind of...):

botany; flora; vegetation (all the plant life in a particular region or period)

Meronyms (members of "forest"):

underbrush; undergrowth; underwood (the brush (small trees and bushes and ferns etc.) growing beneath taller trees in a wood or forest)

tree (a tall perennial woody plant having a main trunk and branches forming a distinct elevated crown; includes both gymnosperms and angiosperms)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "forest"):

bosk (a small wooded area)

grove (a small growth of trees without underbrush)

jungle (an impenetrable equatorial forest)

rain forest; rainforest (a forest with heavy annual rainfall)

old growth; virgin forest (forest or woodland having a mature or overly mature ecosystem more or less uninfluenced by human activity)

second growth (a second growth of trees covering an area where the original stand was destroyed by fire or cutting)

Derivation:

forest (establish a forest on previously unforested land)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Land that is covered with trees and shrubs

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Synonyms:

forest; timber; timberland; woodland

Hypernyms ("forest" is a kind of...):

biome (a major biotic community characterized by the dominant forms of plant life and the prevailing climate)

dry land; earth; ground; land; solid ground; terra firma (the solid part of the earth's surface)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "forest"):

greenwood (woodlands in full leaf)

riparian forest (woodlands along the banks of stream or river)

silva; sylva (the forest trees growing in a country or region)

tree farm (a forest (or part of a forest) where trees are grown for commercial use)

Instance hyponyms:

Black Forest; Schwarzwald (a hilly forest region in southwestern Germany)

Sherwood Forest (an ancient forest in central England; formerly a royal hunting ground; said to be the home of Robin Hood and his merry band)

Wilderness (a wooded region in northeastern Virginia near Spotsylvania where bloody but inconclusive battles were fought in the American Civil War)

Derivation:

forest (establish a forest on previously unforested land)

• FOREST (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they forest    ... he / she / it forests   
Past simple: forested   
Past participle: forested   
-ing form: foresting   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Establish a forest on previously unforested land

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

afforest; forest

Context example:

afforest the mountains

Hypernyms (to "forest" is one way to...):

plant; set (put or set (seeds, seedlings, or plants) into the ground)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "forest"):

re-afforest (reestablish a forest after clear-cutting or fire, etc.)

reforest (forest anew)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

forest (the trees and other plants in a large densely wooded area)

forest (land that is covered with trees and shrubs)

forestry (the science of planting and caring for forests and the management of growing timber)

 Context examples 

The study, led by Betts and OSU's Christopher Wolf, also suggests that the closer a forest is to the equator, the more sensitive its wildlife species are to fragmentation.

(Forest fragmentation hits wildlife hardest in the tropics, National Science Foundation)

In a forest of his country lived two giants, who caused great mischief with their robbing, murdering, ravaging, and burning, and no one could approach them without putting himself in danger of death.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

Later, the nine team-dogs gathered together and sought shelter in the forest.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

The still summer air was heavy with the resinous smell of the great forest.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

They turned and walked through the forest a few steps, when Dorothy discovered something shining in a ray of sunshine that fell between the trees.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

I wanted to be cutting at those trees in the forest of difficulty, under circumstances that should prove my strength.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I observed, with pleasure, that he did not go to the forest that day, but spent it in repairing the cottage and cultivating the garden.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Surprisingly, the loss of woodlands tended to be greater in protected forest reserves than in the more populated Chobe District.

(Land cover change in Botswana savannas: Don't blame the elephants, National Science Foundation)

As the climate warms, vegetation cover is increasing in forests of the northern latitudes.

(Climate change could double greenhouse gas emissions from freshwater ecosystems, University of Cambridge)

But, on the other hand, we would not accept a sea scene as a forest.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)