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Glite Dictionary
🐒 Living in trees 🌳 Tree-like shape
arboreal

arboreal

2 7.7
Living in trees, like many monkeys and birds
  • adjective
  • /ɑrˈbɔːriəl/
  • Specialized
translation icon : arbóreo
  • Nineteen species of marsupials and rodents were trapped on the forest floor and in arboreal traps, approximately 15 m above the ground (Malcolm 1991b).
  • arboreal mammals
  • terrestrial or arboreal

Here it's a, it's a huge arboreal weasel and they'll come check you out.

Examples

  • Many species of monkeys are classified as arboreal because they spend most of their lives in trees.

  • "It's not so much that I mind the thought of living in a forest, but it's just so, so arboreal!"

    Fiction book (1993)

  • The young of these large monitors are typically highly secretive and often arboreal, but so are many of the small monitor species.

    Academic text (2003)

  • The discovery of some new ankle bones is now making it look like primates have always been arboreal.

    Blog text (29)

  • Arboreal marsupials are tree-dwelling animals, many of which never touch the ground throughout their lives.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • The blue monkey (Cercopithecus mitis) is arboreal and rarely touches the ground.

    Academic text (1990)

  • Chameleons are arboreal creatures that often hide among the leaves to escape predators.

  • Some animals, such as sloths, are arboreal and are specially adapted for living in trees.

Synonyms

arboreous
vsarboreal
  • Specialized
9.9

Living in or often found in trees

is limited to actual tree life rather than relation or resemblance
tree-living
vsarboreal
6.9

An animal that lives in trees most of the time

is broader, covering organisms often found in trees even if not most of life

Antonyms

nonarboreal
  • Specialized
9.1

Living on the ground instead of in trees

Compounds

arboreal salamander
  • Specialized
9.3

A small brown animal like a lizard with yellow spots that climbs trees at night in California forests

How Arboreal

arboreal
  • Specialized
2 7.7

Surface Forms

arboreal positive

Morphology

arboreal = arbor (semi-transparent) = arbor + eal

The connection to 'arbor' is clear, but the specific adjective meaning related to tree-dwelling is not a straightforward derivation for all learners.

Etymology

The word arboreal comes from the Latin arbor, which means 'tree'. So an arboreal animal or plant lives in or often on trees.