forest

UK: /ˈfɒrɪst/ US: /ˈfɔrɪst, ˈfɑr-/ ,(fôr′ist, for′-)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

for•est /ˈfɔrɪst, ˈfɑr-/   n. [countable]

1. Botany, Ecology a large area of land covered with trees and underbrush;
   woods.

v. [~ + object]

2. to grow forest on:
   to forest the land.

for•est•ed, adj. 

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

for•est  (fôr′ist, for′-), n. 

1. Botany, Ecology a large tract of land covered with trees and underbrush; woodland.
2. Botany the trees on such a tract:
   to cut down a forest.
3. Botany, British Terms, World History a tract of wooded grounds in England formerly belonging to the sovereign and set apart for game.
4. a thick cluster of vertical objects:
   a forest of church spires.

v.t. 

5. to supply or cover with trees;
   convert into a forest.

• Late Latin forestis (silva) an unenclosed wood (as opposed to a park), derivative of Latin forīs outside. Cf. foreign
• Old French
• Middle English 1250–1300

for′est•al, fo•res•tial  (fə res′chəl), adj.  for′est•ed, adj. 
for′est•less, adj. 
for′est•like′, adj. 
Synonyms

• 1. Forest, grove, wood refer to an area covered with trees. A forest is an extensive area, preserving some or all of its primitive wildness and usually having game or wild animals in it:
  Sherwood Forest; the Black Forest.
  A grove is a group or cluster of trees, usually not very large in area and cleared of underbrush. It is usually tended or cultivated:
  a shady grove; a grove of pines; an orange grove; a walnut grove.
  Woods (or a wood) resembles a forest but is a smaller tract of land, less wild in character, and generally closer to civilization:
  lost in the woods; a wood covering several acres.

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

forest / ˈfɒrɪst/ noun

1. a large wooded area having a thick growth of trees and plants
2. the trees of such an area
3. an area planted with exotic pines or similar trees
   Compare bush14
4. something resembling a large wooded area, esp in density: a forest of telegraph poles
5. (formerly) an area of woodland, esp one owned by the sovereign and set apart as a hunting ground with its own laws and officers
6. (modifier) of, involving, or living in a forest or forests: a forest glade

verb

1. (transitive) to create a forest (in); plant with trees

Etymology: 13th Century: from Old French, from Medieval Latin forestis unfenced woodland, from Latin foris outside

ˈforested adjective