- [countable, uncountable] a large area of land that is thickly covered with trees
- a tropical/pine forest
- One careless match can start a forest fire.
- Thousands of hectares of forest are destroyed each year.
- the forest floor/canopy
Extra ExamplesTopics Geographya2- Forest is being cleared to make way for new farming land.
- He warned her never to enter the forest at night.
- Much of Europe was once covered in forest.
- They got lost in the forest.
- Thick forest stretched as far as the eye could see.
- We slashed our way through the dense forest.
- a large stretch of virgin forest
- The species is found in both coniferous and deciduous forests.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- dense
- thick
- impenetrable
- …
- stretch
- tract
- plant
- clear
- cut down
- …
- stretch
- surround
- tree
- floor
- canopy
- …
- in a/the forest
- through a/the forest
- the edge of the forest
- the heart of the forest
- the middle of the forest
- …
Want to learn more?
Find out which words work together and produce more natural sounding English with the Oxford Collocations Dictionary app.
- [countable] forest (of something) a mass of tall narrow objects that are close together
- a forest of cranes on the skyline
Word OriginMiddle English (in the sense ‘wooded area kept for hunting’, also denoting any uncultivated land): via Old French from late Latin forestis (silva) , literally ‘(wood) outside’, from Latin foris ‘outside’, from fores ‘door’.
Idioms
See forest in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee forest in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic Englishnot see the forest for the trees (North American English)
(British English not see the wood for the trees)
- to not see or understand the main point about something, because you are paying too much attention to small details
Check pronunciation:
forest