tree hugger
9
8.2
- noun
- /tri ˈhʌɡər/
- Offensive
:
[término ofensivo para ecologista]
- The documentary featured a tree hugger who dedicated his life to preserving the rainforest.
- environmental tree huggers
- tree huggers are right
Yeah, I am a tree hugger myself.
- Yeah, I am a tree hugger myself.
- You voted for, for you, you vote for the Democrats, you're a tree hugger and you're kumbaya bullshit, bullshit.
- In other words, we're going to employ Indigenous people to help monitor our trees and which I am a tree hugger, but I have trees everywhere.
Examples
-
As a passionate tree hugger, she volunteers for local tree planting initiatives every weekend.
-
The tree huggers are right.
-
Yeah, I am a tree hugger myself.
-
You know this makes us actual tree huggers now.
-
Let me do my tree hugger thing.
-
I get what a tree hugger is doing.
Blog text (23) -
So you're a tree hugger?
-
Hey there, tree hugger.
-
"I am a true tree hugger," Blair says matter-of-factly.
Blog text (16) -
I am a shopaholic, nail polish fanatic, PETA member, vegetarian, and makeup-loving tree hugger.
Blog text (16)
Synonyms
112
3.6
A person who works to protect nature and prevent pollution
66
4.9
A person who cares about protecting the environment
22
5.5
A person who protects nature and animals from harm and pollution
1
6.7
A person who works to protect nature and reduce pollution
A person who tries to stop people cutting down trees
A person who plants many trees and encourages others to plant trees too
How Committed
- Offensive
9
8.2
6
3.7
112
3.6
2
4.2
817
1.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly derivable from combining 'tree' and 'hugger' — literally someone who hugs trees — so a learner would infer a person who cares for or defends trees and, by extension, the environment. The colloquial/derogatory nuance ('environmentalist' used mockingly) does not obscure this compositional relation, and the concept is readily interpretable by B1 learners who know the constituents.
Etymology
Tree hugger may come from people who literally hugged trees to stop them being cut down; they wrapped their arms around trunks to protect them. So 'tree hugger' now means an 'environmentalist' or someone who works to protect nature.