arboreal means of, relating to, or resembling a tree. It carries an Arena rating of 1735, earned across 6 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, arboreal ranks #887 of 13,937 for Most Beautiful Words, #1,890 of 13,909 for Most Vivid Words, #2,280 of 13,913 for Most Elegant Words, #2,652 of 13,897 for Most Malleable Words.
arboreal is pronounced /ɑɹˈbɔɹi.əl/.
Why “arboreal” is a great word
Pertaining to, resembling, or dwelling among trees. From the Latin arboreus ("pertaining to or resembling a tree"), from arbor, arboris ("tree") + the English adjectival suffix -al; entering English in the mid-17th century. Unlike "arboraceous," which describes a landscape abounding in trees, or "terrestrial," which roots a creature to the ground, "arboreal" is the intimate condition of vertical life. It is the slow, deliberate grip of a sloth's claws on rain-slick bark, the flicker of a squirrel's tail vanishing into a fork of branches, the green-gold light that filters through a canopy to find the eyes of something evolved never to touch earth. To be arboreal is to live suspended between heaven and ground, belonging finally to neither.
Etymology
From Latin arboreus (“tree-like”) + -al, mid-17th century.
adj
- Of, relating to, or resembling a tree.“High and sacred, in good troth, is the power of the microcosmical spirit, which without any arboreal trunck produceth a true Cherry:”
- Living in or among trees.“If the harvest mouse had been more strictly arboreal, it would perhaps have had its tail rendered structurally prehensile, as is the case with some members of the same order.”
- Covered or filled with trees.“The breadth of the arboreal landscape requires a longer list of living creatures, and creatures of greater bulk.”
noun
- Any tree-dwelling creature.“So, by learning to use their eyes to more and more advantage the arboreals added another treasure to the foundation of human intelligence.”
Words closest in meaning
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