Forb

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Any nonwoody flowering plant that is not a graminoid (a grass, sedge, or rush).

    "So younger is better and the part nearest the roots is better, but what makes life possible for the pronghorn is a supply of forbs—small broadleaf plants growing among the grasses."

  2. 2
    Initialism of freedom of religion or belief. abbreviation, alt-of, initialism, uncountable
  3. 3
    Alternative letter-case form of FORB. alt-of, uncountable

Example

More examples

"So younger is better and the part nearest the roots is better, but what makes life possible for the pronghorn is a supply of forbs—small broadleaf plants growing among the grasses."

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek φορβή (phorbḗ, “food”), from φέρβω (phérbō, “to feed”).

Related phrases

flowering plant

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