Meaning & use
evergreen
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Meanings
adjectivenot comparablebiology
Keeping green leaves all year instead of losing them in autumn.
Grammar: Usually goes before a noun: an evergreen shrub, not a shrub that is very evergreen.
Patterns
- an evergreen tree
- evergreen forest
Pine and holly are evergreen plants that stay leafy in winter.
We planted an evergreen hedge for privacy all year.
The valley is covered in evergreen forest.
nouncountable
A tree or bush that stays green throughout the year.
Grammar: Takes a plural: the evergreens stood out in the snow.
Patterns
- plant an evergreen
We decorated an evergreen with lights for the holidays.
Spruces and firs are evergreens common in cold regions.
A row of evergreens shields the house from the wind.
adjectivenot comparablefigurative
Still popular or useful after many years, never going out of date.
Grammar: Often describes content, songs or topics: an evergreen article.
Patterns
- an evergreen classic
- evergreen content
Writing evergreen articles means your posts stay useful long after publication.
The song is an evergreen favorite at weddings.
Tips on saving money are an evergreen subject for magazines.
Word forms
| plural | evergreens |
|---|
Common combinations
- evergreen tree
- The evergreen tree kept its needles through the frost.
- evergreen content
- The blog focuses on evergreen content that readers return to.
- evergreen shrub
- An evergreen shrub provides color in January.
- evergreen classic
- The film is an evergreen classic.
- evergreen forest
- We hiked through a dense evergreen forest.
Synonyms and how they differ
- perennial
- Perennial describes plants that live for years or things that keep coming back, but it does not mean the leaves stay green.
- timeless
- Timeless suggests something that never seems old in style, while evergreen suggests it continues to be useful or popular.
- enduring
- Enduring stresses lasting a long time, whereas evergreen adds the idea of continued freshness.
- conifer
- Conifer is a type of tree that bears cones, and most but not all are evergreen.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: evergreen or deciduous? evergreen or perennial?
evergreen vs deciduous
Deciduous trees lose their leaves each autumn, which is the opposite of evergreen.
evergreen vs perennial
A perennial plant lives for several years, but it may lose its leaves in winter, so it is not always evergreen.
Practice
Which sentence uses evergreen in its figurative sense?
Choose one answer.
A song cannot have leaves, so evergreen here means lasting popularity. The other sentences refer to actual trees.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “evergreen”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.