Cheatgrass

//ˈt͡ʃiːtɡɹɑːs// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Bromus tectorum, drooping brome, native to Europe, thought to create an ecology prone to annual fires in many US areas countable, uncountable

    "It took maybe nine or ten years more of westward drift, over the rolling prairie, through the cheatgrass, the sage grouse exploding skyward […]"

  2. 2
    annual or winter annual grass with softly hairy leaves of the Mediterranean wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
bromus tectorumdowny bromedowny bromedowny bromegrassdowny cheatdowny chess

Example

More examples

"It took maybe nine or ten years more of westward drift, over the rolling prairie, through the cheatgrass, the sage grouse exploding skyward […]"

Etymology

From cheat + grass (reputedly because farmers felt cheated when wheat yields were lower because of cheatgrass invading their fields).

Related phrases

bromus tectorumdrooping brome

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.