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old growth

old growth

12 6.6
A forest where people have not cut trees for a long time
  • noun
  • /oʊld ɡroʊθ/
  • Specialized
translation icon : bosque primario
  • Walking through the majestic old growth trees, you can feel the untouched beauty of nature around you.
  • old growth forests
  • old growth reserves
  • old growth timber

But then when we saw that we almost cut down all of our our old growth, we said, something's wrong here.

Examples

  • 98% of the old-growth forests are gone.

  • Both regions include some of the most extensive old-growth rainforests in the world.

    Academic text (1996)
  • You can see old growth because old growth will have bark.

  • This is the really thick old growth and that comes out here to to last year's growth and then this year's growth.

  • Whom does it serve that we're now opening the rest of the old growth forests to logging?

    Academic text (1994)
  • Its existence seems assured as long as the old-growth forest upon which it depends continues to exist.

    Academic text (1992)
  • The room had been built around three old-growth white pines that soared up to the skylight roof.

    Fiction book (2001)
  • Far above, a solitary car wound through an old-growth forest, its headlights stabbing the darkness.

    Fiction book (2000)
  • The national park is home to many rare species that thrive in the old growth forest untouched by human activity.

  • Scientists are studying the diverse ecosystem found in the old growth forest to understand its benefits to the environment.

Synonyms

virgin forest
vsold growth
  • Specialized
2 5.6

A forest with many old trees that is not changed by people

focuses more on great age and a mature or over mature ecosystem state rather than untouched status

How Mature

old growth
  • Specialized
12 6.6
wildwood
  • Literature
6.2
forest
970 1.0

Surface Forms

old growth singular
old growths plural

Morphology

old + growth

The components 'old' and 'growth' combine to suggest vegetation that has been growing for a long time, so a B1 learner who knows both words will likely grasp the general idea of long-established plant growth. However, the technical ecological sense (a mature, largely undisturbed ecosystem as in 'old-growth forest') is specialized and not fully predictable from the constituents, so full comprehension typically requires prior exposure.

Etymology

The phrase old growth comes from the image of a forest where the trees are old and show years of growth. So, it means 'a very old forest that people have not changed'.