chaparral

noun

ˌsha-pə-ˈral How to pronounce chaparral (audio)
Definition of chaparralnext
as in grove
a thick patch of shrubbery, small trees, or underbrush the rabbit darted into the chaparral

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of chaparral After burning, the chaparral is slow to recover, whereas invasive grasses are quick to move in. — Anton Sorokin, Smithsonian Magazine, 5 Feb. 2025 Satellite images of the Eaton Fire showed that the mountain chaparral had burned with characteristic intensity. — M. R. O’Connor, The New Yorker, 27 Jan. 2025 The crew spread out, and sawyers began to cut the chaparral with their saws. — M. R. O’Connor, The New Yorker, 27 Jan. 2025 Residents of Marin, and the Bay Area at large, are understandably big fans of the diverse natural landscapes of the coast ranges: forests and woodlands, savannas and marshes, ocean coast and chaparral. — Jack Gedney, The Mercury News, 27 Jan. 2025 See All Example Sentences for chaparral
Recent Examples of Synonyms for chaparral
  1. grove
  2. forest
  3. thicket
  4. brushwood
  5. copse
  6. coppice
  7. bush
  8. brake
Noun
  • Visiting olive groves and tasting premium olive oils is a real delight, as every drop of olive oil tells its own story, its own tradition.
    — Shivani Vora, Forbes.com, 3 Apr. 2025
  • Residents of the village fled the shelling and took refuge in neighboring villages and olive groves.
    — Omar Albam and Kareem Chehayeb, Los Angeles Times, 25 Mar. 2025
Definition of grove
Noun
  • In 2015, participating zoos began releasing the snails back into the forests of French Polynesia, marked with an animal-safe UV paint for tracking purposes, according to the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland.
    — Lauren Liebhaber, Miami Herald, 28 Mar. 2025
  • And Dorian, despite the visual inventiveness on display, does go a bit overboard and overlong at times, particularly in a late, extended scene that makes use of pre-recorded outdoor footage that allows more than one Snook to race through a forest.
    — Greg Evans, Deadline, 27 Mar. 2025
Definition of forest
Noun
  • In December 2023, Jonathan Majors walked through a dense thicket of news cameras and climbed into the back of a black Chevy Suburban pulling away from the criminal courthouse in lower Manhattan.
    — Rebecca Keegan, The Hollywood Reporter, 14 Mar. 2025
  • Nor has the United States’ growing thicket of export controls and sanctions on Chinese firms and technology imports extracted significant concessions from Beijing.
    — Nicholas Mulder, Foreign Affairs, 6 Mar. 2025
Definition of thicket
Noun
  • During one expedition to what was once London, a young scientist, out gathering brushwood, unearths a small vacuum flask, inside which is a handwritten account of life in a small village called Beadle during the days leading up to the lunar catastrophe.
    — Michael Dirda, Washington Post, 2 Feb. 2023
  • Bare dunes were planted with ‘brushwood and windbreaks, perpendicular to wind direction’ so that the dunes do not interfere with the canal system and irrigated farmlands.
    — Azera Parveen Rahman, Quartz, 27 Oct. 2022
Definition of brushwood
Noun
  • The eyes in the sky gazed down on a copse of spindly trees in western Russia, hooking onto where North Korean forces were coalescing, a Ukrainian special operations forces commander, who is being identified only by his call sign, Green, told Newsweek.
    — Thomas G. Moukawsher, Newsweek, 23 Mar. 2025
  • Below us were hayfields and stone barns, copses and creeks.
    — Nick Paumgarten, The New Yorker, 10 Feb. 2025
Definition of copse
Noun
  • The two most straightforward of the trials will involve large-scale planting of trees and bioenergy crops, including Miscanthus grasses and coppice willow, reports Robert Lea for AZoCleanTech.
    — Alex Fox, Smithsonian Magazine, 27 May 2021
  • Another strategy, called short rotation coppice, involves planting fast-growing trees such as willows and poplars in extremely dense rows.
    — Eric Toensmeier, Scientific American, 1 Aug. 2020
Definition of coppice
Noun
  • By Lila Seidman Staff Writer Follow April 5, 2025 3 AM PT Poodle-dog bush, a pretty but dangerous plant, is growing in parts of the Angeles National Forest hit by recent wildfires.
    — Lila Seidman, Los Angeles Times, 5 Apr. 2025
  • The geckos come out at night – so the team also goes trekking in the dark with flashlights to look for geckos perched on leaves and bushes.
    — Jessie Yeung, CNN Money, 28 Mar. 2025
Definition of bush
Noun
  • Annoyingly, the Roman mechanic recommended by the seller was unable to solve the weak brakes, which required me to keep my distance and anticipate stopping ahead of time.
    — Basem Wasef, Robb Report, 1 Apr. 2025
  • Any unexpected sound, even getting a text message, would set off a jolt of panic through my body, the same sensation as slamming on the brakes while driving.
    — Rebecca Nagle, The Atlantic, 1 Apr. 2025
Definition of brake

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Cite this Entry

“Chaparral.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/chaparral. Accessed 13 Apr. 2025.

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