rainforest

noun

rain·​for·​est ˈrān-ˌfȯr-əst How to pronounce rainforest (audio)
-ˌfär-
variants or less commonly rain forest
plural rainforests also rain forests
1
: a tropical woodland with an annual rainfall of at least 100 inches (254 centimeters) and marked by lofty broad-leaved evergreen trees forming a continuous canopy

called also tropical rainforest

2

Examples of rainforest in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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In animation, the winner was The Golden Butterfly (Zlatnata Peperutka), a Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, North Macedonia and Spain co-pro about a group of friends on a dazzling adventure in the Colombian rainforest. Jesse Whittock, Deadline, 10 Oct. 2025 The building has been transformed into an indoor rainforest inhabited by thousands of butterflies for guests to walk through. Paige Moore, AZCentral.com, 10 Oct. 2025 International leaders will gather this November in the heart of the Amazon rainforest as Belém, Brazil, hosts COP30. Tarciana Medeiros, MSNBC Newsweek, 10 Oct. 2025 Brazil harbors roughly half of the world's remaining jaguar population, with many roaming the country's dense Amazon rainforest and surrounding wetlands. Moná Thomas, PEOPLE, 7 Oct. 2025 Bedtime finds us with A Young People’s History of the United States or Pam Muñoz Ryan’s The Dreamer, tracing young Pablo Neruda through rainforests and tempestuous seas. Literary Hub, 6 Oct. 2025 Brazil contains about two-thirds of the Amazon rainforest and 20% of the world’s total biodiversity, according to the Rainforest Foundation US. Irene Wright, Miami Herald, 3 Oct. 2025 In her pioneering studies in the lush rainforest of Tanzania’s Gombe Stream Game Reserve, now a national park, Goodall noted that the most successful chimp leaders were gentle, caring and familial. Preston Fore, Fortune, 2 Oct. 2025 Coster-Waldau travels to the Andean mountains, the Ganges River, the Ecuadorian rainforest, Paris and more. Giana Levy, Variety, 1 Oct. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1900, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of rainforest was in 1900

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Rainforest.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rainforest. Accessed 17 Oct. 2025.

Kids Definition

rain forest

noun
1
: an often tropical woodland with a high annual rainfall and very tall evergreen trees with tops forming a continuous layer

called also tropical rain forest

2

More from Merriam-Webster on rainforest

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