rainforest

See also: rain forest

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From rain +‎ forest, a calque of German Regenwald.

Pronunciation

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Noun

rainforest (countable and uncountable, plural rainforests)

  1. A forest in a climate with high annual rainfall and no dry season.
    • 2002, Chris C. Park, Tropical Rainforests, page 27:
      Perhaps the most impressive expression of species diversity is the density of species found in a given area of rainforest.
    • 2004, Nigel E. Stork, “24: The Theory and Practice of Planning for Long-Term Conservation of Biodiversity of Wet Tropics Rainforests in Australia”, in Eldredge Bermingham, Christopher W. Dick, Craig Moritz, editors, Tropical Rainforests: Past, Present, and Future, page 508:
      Tropical rainforests in Australia have suffered a fate similar in many ways to that of rainforests elsewhere in the world, but considerable progress in safeguarding the future of what remains has been made.
    • 2014, Nick Hunter, Rainforests, page 38:
      Enjoy your visit to the rainforests, because the next time you go there things could be very different.
    • 2021 June 22, Sam Romano, “Rainforests are under siege. Here’s what you should know.”, in CNN[1]:
      Some researchers worry that rainforests will soon reach a tipping point — a point of no return in which the once-lush forests transition to arid regions.
    • 2025 April 4, Lex Harvey and Esha Mitra, “US tourist arrested after allegedly attempting to contact ‘world’s most isolated’ tribe”, in CNN[2]:
      The Sentinelese hunt in the rainforest and fish in the coastal waters using spears, bows and arrows, as well as homemade narrow outrigger canoes, according to Survival International.

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