pine barren

noun

1. a tract of sandy or peaty soil in which pine trees are the principal growth, as in low-lying areas near the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United States.

Word History and Origins

Origin of pine barren¹

An Americanism dating back to 1725–35

Example Sentences

While luxuriating in the simulated pine barren, the visitor might ponder how to preserve real ones.

From Washington Post

Unfortunately, a cross-country trip from New York to the closest desert wasn’t in the cards while I was testing the Mojave, but nearby New Jersey has a little bit of everything, including hundreds of miles of sandy public roads traversing its pine barren forests.

From Fox News

The Pine Barrens are also home to an uncommon grass called the pine barren sandreed that needs fire to provide it open space.

From New York Times

Among the reasons are habitat loss from land development and suppression of the wildfires that are a necessary part of the ecology of the pine barren and black oak savanna where the insects live.

From US News

On a brilliant, sunny day this month, 150 Latvian infantry members fought across a sandy pine barren to seize locations defended by Atropians, a fictional foe played by Gurkha soldiers of the British Army.

From New York Times