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undergrowth

Noun
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Low, dense bushes, shrubs, and plants growing under forest trees; represents tangled obstacles or wild nature in narrative verse.

Detailed Definition
This word names the thick vegetation beneath taller trees or plants. It is a fairly specialized landscape term, and Frost uses it to show how far the road can be seen before the brush blocks the view.
Example
Example in poetry:
“To where it bent in the undergrowth” (Frost, “Birches”); Ferns hid the path beneath the undergrowth; In the undergrowth, a fox moved like a struck match; “Undergrowth” names low shrubs, grasses, and tangled plants below taller trees; The thick undergrowth becomes a natural image of concealment
Additional Notes
The quoted line uses a specific nature term for thick low vegetation, which some readers may not know precisely.; Found in the poem, The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost
Also Known As
brush underbrush thicket brakes
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