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Glite Dictionary
to afforest

to afforest

8.6
To plant trees on land that is not a forest to make a new forest
  • verb
  • /əˈfɔːrɪst/
  • Specialized
translation icon : reforestar
  • To combat climate change, the city has launched a project to afforest urban areas with new trees.

Examples

  • Many countries are making efforts to afforest hillsides to combat soil erosion.

  • They hope to afforest the empty fields with native species of trees.

  • Government agencies plan to afforest large stretches of desert land.

  • They plan to afforest the barren land.

  • The government afforested many areas last year.

  • The organization aims to afforest the abandoned farmland to restore the local ecosystem.

  • Environmental groups are working to afforest degraded land to improve air quality and biodiversity.

Synonyms

to forest
vsto afforest
  • Specialized
11 5.3

To plant trees on land that did not have them before

emphasizes planting trees to create a new wooded area rather than general establishment

How Forested

to establish
772 4.1
to afforest
  • Specialized
8.6
to plant
361 1.0
to sow
45 1.8

Surface Forms

afforest infinitive
afforested past
afforested past participle
afforesting present participle
afforests third person singular

Morphology

afforest = forest (semi-transparent) = a + forest

The link to 'forest' is recognizable, but the prefix 'a-' is not a productive modern English prefix for most learners and the exact sense 'make into a forest' is not fully predictable by rule.

Etymology

Afforest comes from the prefix a- meaning 'to' and forest meaning 'wood' or 'trees'. So to afforest is to 'make into a forest', like reforest but often on land that had no trees before.