arborescent

American  

[ahr-buh-res-uhnt] / ˌɑr bəˈrɛs ənt /

adjective

1. treelike in size and form.

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arborescent British  

/ ˌɑːbəˈrɛsənt /

adjective

1. having the shape or characteristics of a tree

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Other Word Forms

• arborescence noun
• arborescently adverb
• subarborescence noun
• subarborescent adjective

Etymology

Origin of arborescent

1665–75; < Latin arborēscent- (stem of arborēscēns ), present participle of arborēscere to grow into a tree. See arbor ³, -escent

Example Sentences

From there, the GRR1 heads northwest into a dense and impossibly wet woodland wreathed in arborescent ferns and carpeted with beds of moss two feet deep.

From New York Times • Dec. 23, 2019

Searching for trees in these spindly, barely arborescent paintings feels valid and foolish at once.

From New York Times • Apr. 6, 2017

Pel�e that destroyed Saint Pierre, he alludes to Arnoux' garden, and speaks of a spray of arborescent fern that had been sent him.

From Lafcadio Hearn by Kennard, Nina H.

Dumb′-cane, a plant of the order Arace�, aberrant in its almost arborescent character, but agreeing with them in its acridity, which is in none of them more highly developed.—adv.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 1 of 4: A-D) by Various

And in our groves we have such variety of arborescent prizes as no other district of London can boast, extending to the arbutus or strawberry-tree, and the liriodendron or tulip-tree.

From Romantic Spain A Record of Personal Experiences (Vol. I) by O'Shea, John Augustus