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Glite Dictionary
underbrush

underbrush

10 5.6
Small plants, bushes, and young trees that grow under tall trees in a forest
  • noun
  • /ˈʌndərˌbrʌʃ/
: matorral
  • We had to navigate through thick underbrush to reach the clearing in the forest.
  • clear the underbrush

She has more shoes than you think as I flee into the underbrush.

Examples

  • On both sides, the underbrush rose to my hips, with dead briar and vine maple.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • After twenty yards, the underbrush and steepness of the hill made it impossible to continue.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • I want all the underbrush cut down.

    Go Tell the Spartans (1978)

  • "You just have to clear the underbrush away to find it, to get to the heart of it."

    Fiction book (1990)

  • There is the sound of someone breathing hidden in the underbrush, and the breathing of the horses.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • A voice comes screeching through the underbrush, followed by a running boy.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • The tall trees kept the sunlight from the ground, so the underbrush was small and rarely entangling.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • So we cut paths with machetes, scramble through thick underbrush, and wonder what we might be missing.

    Academic text (2010)

  • But at that moment, a snow grouse thundered up out of the underbrush near Rath.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • To the left rose sheer cliffs; to the right, the underbrush cascaded down to an echoing river.

    Fiction book (1998)

Synonyms

brush
vsunderbrush
  • US
58 2.2

A thick group of small trees and bushes

refers specifically to plants growing under taller trees, not any dense thicket
scrub
vsunderbrush
13 6.2

Low, thick bushes and small trees that grow on dry land

applies to low growing forest plants under taller trees, not mainly arid thickets
undergrowth
vsunderbrush
7 3.9

Low plants and bushes that grow under tall trees in a forest

is the general term for low plants growing under taller trees
dry brush
vsunderbrush
  • US
1 4.7

Low bushes or plants that grow close to the ground in dry areas

describes moist forest plants beneath taller trees rather than arid vegetation
understory
vsunderbrush
  • Specialized
1 5.1

A layer of small trees and plants under taller trees

is about the plants themselves rather than naming a forest layer
underwood
vsunderbrush
1 8.0

Low bushes and small trees that grow under taller trees in a forest

is the common general word for the same plants beneath taller trees

How Dense

thicket
16 5.1
underbrush
10 5.6
groundcover
  • Specialized
1 4.7

Surface Forms

underbrush singular
underbrushes plural

Morphology

underbrush = brush (transparent) = under + under + brush

The meaning is a straightforward locational composition: 'under' + 'brush' = brush growing beneath taller trees.

Etymology

Underbrush comes from two simple words: under meaning 'below' and brush meaning 'small bushes'. So underbrush is the low plants and bushes that grow 'below' the tall trees in a forest.