Meaning & use
foliage
Last updated
Meanings
noununcountable
The leaves of a plant or tree, especially all the leaves considered together.
Grammar: No plural and no 'a': say 'thick foliage', not 'a foliage' or 'foliages'.
Patterns
- thick/dense foliage
- green foliage
- autumn foliage
The path was hidden by thick foliage.
In autumn the foliage turns bright red and gold.
These plants have dark green foliage and small white flowers.
noununcountable
The leaves and branches of plants seen as a mass of green in a place or picture.
Grammar: Often used when talking about scenery, gardens, or art: a wall of foliage.
Patterns
- a mass of foliage
- surrounded by foliage
- foliage plants
The house was almost invisible behind a wall of foliage.
She paints gardens full of lush foliage.
Foliage plants are grown mainly for their leaves, not their flowers.
Common combinations
- thick foliage
- Thick foliage blocked the view from the road.
- autumn foliage
- Tourists come to see the autumn foliage in October.
- dense foliage
- The bird hid in the dense foliage of the oak.
- lush foliage
- Rainforests are known for their lush foliage.
- foliage plant
- A foliage plant looks best in a shaded corner.
Synonyms and how they differ
- leaves
- 'Leaves' is the everyday word for the individual flat parts of a plant; 'foliage' sounds more formal and treats them as a mass.
- greenery
- Greenery means green plants in general, including grass and bushes, while foliage refers specifically to leaves.
- undergrowth
- Undergrowth is the low plants and bushes growing beneath trees, not the leaves themselves.
Word family
Commonly confused: foliage or foliage? foliage or greenhouse?
foliage vs foliage
Do not confuse with 'foliage' vs 'folly' or 'foilage' — the correct spelling has 'i' before 'age': fo-li-age.
foliage vs greenhouse
A greenhouse is a building for plants, not the leaves themselves; the words are unrelated in meaning.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'foliage' correctly?
Choose one answer.
'Foliage' is uncountable, so it takes no plural and no 'a': 'full of beautiful foliage' is correct. 'Foliages' and 'a foliage' are wrong, and 'foliage leaves' repeats the same idea.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “foliage”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.