Reforested

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. The act of replenishing an area with trees after it has been cleared or otherwise diminished in forest cover indicates direct intervention in land restoration
2. This involves the deliberate planting of trees in previously deforested regions to recreate a sustainable ecosystem
3. Land where trees have been newly planted following removal of forest cover

Etymology: "Reforested" is the past tense and past participle of "reforest", so it describes land that has been planted with trees again after its forest cover was cleared. The verb is built from the prefix "re-", meaning "again", and the noun "forest", which was borrowed into English from Old French "forest" and traces back to medieval Latin "foresta". Its earlier history matters less here than its shape: the word simply means to forest again. The prefix "re-" is the more interesting part of the story. It comes from Latin "re-", which English inherited through Old French, and it has been attached to verbs for centuries to signal repetition or restoration. "Reforest" combines it with "forest" to name a process that had become common once forests were cut back on a large scale and replanting became a deliberate practice.

Synonyms: afforested, planted, restored, revegetated, reclaimed

Antonyms: deforested, cleared, devastated, deserted, barren