a plant having a permanently woody main stem or trunk, ordinarily growing to a considerable height, and usually developing branches at some distance from the ground.
any of various shrubs, bushes, and plants, as the banana, resembling a tree in form and size.
something resembling a tree in shape, as a clothes tree or a crosstree.
Mathematics, Linguistics. tree diagram.
a pole, post, beam, bar, handle, or the like, as one forming part of some structure.
a saddletree.
a treelike group of crystals, as one forming in an electrolytic cell.
a gallows or gibbet.
the cross on which Christ was crucified.
Computers. a data structure organized like a tree whose nodes store data elements and whose branches represent pointers to other nodes in the tree.
to drive into or up a tree, as a pursued animal or person.
Informal. to put into a difficult position.
to stretch or shape on a tree, as a boot.
to furnish (a structure) with a tree.
any large woody perennial plant with a distinct trunk giving rise to branches or leaves at some distance from the ground
any plant that resembles this but has a trunk not made of wood, such as a palm tree
a wooden post, bar, etc
chem a treelike crystal growth; dendrite
a branching diagrammatic representation of something, such as the grammatical structure of a sentence
( as modifier )
a tree diagram
an archaic word for gallows
archaic the cross on which Christ was crucified
in the highest position of a profession, etc
informal in a difficult situation; trapped or stumped
to drive or force up a tree
to shape or stretch (a shoe) on a shoetree
First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English trēo(w); cognate with Old Frisian, Old Norse trē, Old Saxon treo, Gothic triu; akin to Greek drŷs “oak,” Sanskrit, Avestan dru “wood”
A tree is a large plant with a trunk, branches, and leaves. If you have an apple tree in your backyard, you'll have apples in the fall — and a nice shady place to sit in the summer. The thick, woody trunk is actually the stem of a tree, and its ability to grow so much taller than other plants evolved partly as a way for trees to absorb more sunlight. Trees do a lot for humans, including providing oxygen, giving us places to climb, producing fruit, shading us, and providing lumber and fuel. As a verb, tree means "chase into a tree," the way your dog might tree the neighbor's cat.
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
His first tattoo was on Vizirenko’s upper chest: a silhouette of his family on vacation, holding hands and standing under a palm tree and a sun.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 25, 2026
In the last five years, the Central Cardamom protected region has lost nearly 7,000 hectares of tree cover, Global Forest Watch data shows.
From Barron's • Jun. 25, 2026
Little tufts of green leaves have emerged from the raw cuts where the burned branches once were, proving the tree to be more resilient than its otherwise relatively stark exterior might suggest.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 24, 2026
The researchers say future studies should explore how specific shelterbelt characteristics, including width, height, spacing, configuration, and tree species composition, influence wildlife across different regions and seasons.
From Science Daily • Jun. 22, 2026
If it was about James and me, she was barking up the wrong tree.
From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu
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.
