Meaning & use
virgin forest
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Meaning
nouncountable
An area of woodland that has grown naturally for centuries and has never been cut down or settled by people.
Grammar: Countable: a virgin forest, rare virgin forests.
Patterns
- a stretch of virgin forest
- the last virgin forest
Only a small tract of virgin forest survives in the national park.
Loggers want access to the virgin forest, but conservationists are fighting to protect it.
Walking through virgin forest, we saw trees that were hundreds of years old.
Word forms
| plural | virgin forests |
|---|
Common combinations
- untouched virgin forest
- The island still has untouched virgin forest.
- protect virgin forest
- The law aims to protect virgin forest from logging.
- clear virgin forest
- Farmers cleared virgin forest to plant crops.
- tract of virgin forest
- A tract of virgin forest covers the mountain slope.
- remaining virgin forest
- Scientists surveyed the remaining virgin forest.
Synonyms and how they differ
- old-growth forest
- Old-growth forest stresses age and structure, and may have been lightly used, while virgin forest says it has never been disturbed.
- primeval forest
- Primeval forest is a more poetic phrase suggesting ancient origins.
- primary forest
- Primary forest is the technical term in ecology and forestry for forest never cleared by people.
- wilderness
- Wilderness covers any wild area, not just forest, so it is broader than virgin forest.
Opposites
Word family
- forest noun
- a large area covered with trees
- forestry noun
- the science of managing forests
- deforestation noun
- the clearing of forests
- reforestation noun
- replanting trees in cleared areas
Commonly confused: virgin forest or rainforest?
virgin forest vs rainforest
A rainforest is a wet tropical forest, which may or may not be virgin, while virgin forest refers to forest never cleared.
Practice
Environmental groups campaigned to stop loggers entering the last ___ in the region.
Choose one answer.
Virgin forest means forest never cut by people, which is what conservationists protect. A plantation is planted by people, so it is the opposite.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “virgin forest”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.