copses

noun

plural of copse
as in bushes
a thick patch of shrubbery, small trees, or underbrush a small copse of trees shaded the back of the house

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of copses The vegetation is mostly grassland, which shines with an almost alien-green intensity in the spring, dotted with copses of twisted oak and buckeye trees. — John Metcalfe, Mercury News, 4 May 2026 Walk in forests where dragonflies buzz and orchids bloom in secret copses. — Lydia Bell, Condé Nast Traveler, 22 Jan. 2026 The Aquitaine countryside unfolds in a collage of khaki, tan, and green, dotted with little ponds and copses of trees. — Anna Gaca, Pitchfork, 1 Oct. 2025 Its 46 rooms have big picture windows that look onto copses of color-changing trees and cabin vibes from plenty of blonde wood. — Chloe Arrojado, AFAR Media, 25 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for copses
  1. forests
  2. groves
  3. thickets
  4. woods
Noun
  • Selective harvesting can help restore kelp forests, Salomon says, but doing so effectively requires sustained effort.
    — Victoria Malloy, Time, 21 Oct. 2026
  • Beyond the breaks stood forests of giant kelp, each capable of growing as much as 50 centimeters a day.
    — Alec Luhn, Scientific American, 20 Oct. 2026
Definition of forests
Noun
  • Just a half-hour north of San Diego, the property is comprised of over 600 acres of hills, meadows, Japanese gardens, and citrus groves, including 30 miles of private hiking trails and five acres of bio-intensive gardens.
    — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 22 Oct. 2026
  • But that yield is reliant on farmers being able to access and harvest their groves.
    — Chas Newkey-Burden, TheWeek, 20 Oct. 2026
Definition of groves
Noun
  • The original computers were essentially thickets of light bulbs.
    — Gideon Lewis-Kraus, New Yorker, 19 Oct. 2026
  • Finally the buck turned, bounded up on top of the bank, still in thickets where no arrow could get through, and started to walk around my tree.
    — Al Dawson, Outdoor Life, 15 Oct. 2026
Definition of thickets
Noun
  • In an elaborate fairy-tale takeoff, Homer abandons Bart and Lisa in the middle of the woods to help solve the family’s food-shortage problem.
    — Joshua Kurp, Vulture, 26 Oct. 2026
  • Until this day in the woods, Dad, too, had treated my weight as her problem.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 26 Oct. 2026
Definition of woods

Browse Nearby Words

copse
copses
cops out
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Copses.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/copses. Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of milieu

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World

Why do we 'bury the lede?'

'Za' and 9 Other Words to Help You Win at SCRABBLE
See More

Popular

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
different halloween monsters in silhouette
A Monstrous Vocab Quiz Words That Go Bump in the Night
See All