noun
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a person who lives in the bush
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an unsophisticated uncouth person
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a member of a bush fire brigade
adjective
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covered or overgrown with bushes
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thick and shaggy
bushy eyebrows
Other Word Forms
- bushily adverb
- bushiness noun
Etymology
Origin of bushy
First recorded in 1350–1400, bushy is from the Middle English word busshi. See bush 1, -y 1
Explanation
Bushy things have the rounded shape and thick texture of a bush. You could describe your grandfather as having thick gray hair and bushy black eyebrows. You can use the adjective bushy to describe all kinds of things — you might wake up with your curly hair looking quite bushy, or adopt a particularly bushy old cat from the animal shelter. Shrubs are usually bushy, of course, while other plants may grow tall and spindly or spread in a squat and bushy shape. In the 14th century, bushy meant "overgrown with bushes."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The once-famous dark mane has gone white and is neatly cropped and the bushy mustache is now just a brush of hair below his nose.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 12, 2026
The singer is always like this – bright eyed, bushy tailed, full of beans before breakfast - but at Glastonbury, he had an extra spring in his step.
From BBC • Oct. 22, 2025
Murayama, who was also well-known for his distinctive bushy eyebrows, was elected as the prime minister in a coalition government that also included the Liberal Democratic Party, Japan's dominant postwar political force.
From Barron's • Oct. 17, 2025
With his face all but covered in a bushy, gray-flecked beard, his Gogo makes a milder impression than Mr. Winter’s Didi.
From The Wall Street Journal • Sep. 29, 2025
When I reach the end, Trub strokes his bushy beard and thinks for a moment.
From "Dragons in a Bag" by Zetta Elliott
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
