Meaning & use
downed trees
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Meaning
phraseplural
Trees that have been knocked over or broken down, usually by wind, storms, or cutting.
Grammar: Always plural in this phrase; the singular is 'a downed tree'. It is often used after 'of': 'a lot of downed trees'.
Patterns
- downed trees on the road
- clear downed trees
- a lot of downed trees
After the hurricane, downed trees blocked several streets.
Workers spent the morning removing downed trees from power lines.
The park was closed because of downed trees and broken branches.
Word forms
| singular | downed tree |
|---|
Common combinations
- downed trees and power lines
- The storm left downed trees and power lines across the county.
- remove downed trees
- Crews worked all day to remove downed trees from the highway.
- a pile of downed trees
- A pile of downed trees sat at the edge of the forest.
- downed trees blocking the road
- We had to turn back because of downed trees blocking the road.
Synonyms and how they differ
- fallen trees
- This is very similar, but 'fallen' can also describe trees that fell naturally, while 'downed' often suggests they were knocked down by force.
- felled trees
- Felled trees have been deliberately cut down by people, not knocked over by weather.
Opposites
Word family
- down verb
- To knock something down, as in 'The wind downed a tree.'
Commonly confused: downed trees or drowned trees?
downed trees vs drowned trees
These sound similar, but 'drowned trees' would mean trees killed by too much water, not trees knocked over.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'downed trees' correctly?
Choose one answer.
Downed trees are trees knocked over by wind or storms, so 'caused many downed trees' fits. The other options describe impossible or unrelated actions.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “downed trees”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.