The Collaborative Dictionary

Woodland \Wood"land\, n. Land covered with wood or trees; forest; land on which trees are allowed to grow, either for fuel or timber. [1913 Webster] Here hills and vales, the woodland and the plain, Here earth and water seem to strive again. --Pope. [1913 Webster] Woodlands and cultivated fields are harmoniously blended. --Bancroft. [1913 Webster]

Woodland \Wood"land\, a. Of or pertaining to woods or woodland; living in the forest; sylvan. [1913 Webster] She had a rustic, woodland air. --Wordsworth. [1913 Webster] Like summer breeze by woodland stream. --Keble. [1913 Webster] Woodland caribou. (Zool.) See under Caribou. [1913 Webster]

Word Net

woodland n : land that is covered with trees and shrubs [syn: forest, timberland, timber]

Moby Thesaurus

acres, afforestation, afforestational, agricultural region, alluvion, alluvium, arable land, arboreous, arboretum, back, back of beyond, back-country, backwood, backwoods, backwoodsy, black belt, boondocks, bosky, braky, bush, bushveld, bushy, chase, citrus belt, clay, climax forest, clod, cloud forest, copsy, corn belt, cotton belt, countryside, crust, dendrologic, dendrology, dirt, dry land, dust, dust bowl, earth, farm belt, farm country, farmland, forest, forest land, forest preserve, forestal, forested, forestry, freehold, fringing forest, fruit belt, gallery forest, glebe, grass roots, grassland, grazing region, greenwood, ground, hanger, highlands, hinterland, index forest, jungle, jungles, land, landholdings, lithosphere, lowlands, marginal land, marl, meadows and pastures, mold, moors, national forest, outback, palmetto barrens, park, park forest, pine barrens, plains, prairies, primeval forest, protection forest, province, provinces, rain forest, real estate, real property, reforestation, reforestational, region, regolith, rural district, rustic region, scrub, scrubby, scrubland, selection forest, shrubby, shrubland, silvicultural, silviculture, sod, soil, sprout forest, stand of timber, state forest, steppes, subaerial deposit, subsoil, sylvan, terra, terra firma, terrain, territory, the country, the soil, the sticks, timber, timbered, timberland, tobacco belt, topsoil, tree veld, up-country, uplands, veld, virgin, virgin forest, waste, weald, wheat belt, wide-open spaces, wild, wilderness, wildwood, wood, wooded, woods, woods and fields, woodsy, woody, yokeldom

English

Pronunciation

/"wUd.l@nd/

Noun

land covered with woody vegetation

Synonyms

Translations

Finnish: metsämaa, metsä

Adjective

woodland

Of or pertaining to a creature or object growing, living, or existing in a woodland
- The woodland creatures ran from the fire.

Translations

Finnish: metsän (genitive of the noun), metsä-

Ecologically, a woodland is an area covered in trees, differentiated from a forest. In these terms, a forest has a largely closed canopy – the branches and foliage of trees interlock overhead to provide extensive and nearly continuous shade. A woodland, on the other hand, allows sunlight to penetrate between the trees, limiting shade. Woodlands may support an understory of shrubs, herbs, or grasses. Woodlands may form a transition to shrublands under drier conditions.

Woodland is used in British woodland management to mean any smaller area covered in trees, however dense. (Forest is usually used only for more extensive wooded areas, again however dense). The term Ancient Woodland is used in British nature conservation to refer to any wooded land established for a very long period (equivalent to the American term old growth forest).

Woodlot is a closely-related American term, which refers to a stand of trees generally used for firewood. While woodlots often technically have closed canopies, they are so small that light penetration from the edge makes them ecologically closer to woodland than forest.