western red cedar

noun

1

: a large arborvitae (Thuja plicata) chiefly of the Pacific Northwest with reddish-brown bark and wood

called also red cedar

2

: the wood of the western red cedar

Examples of western red cedar in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Just inland from the Pacific Northwest’s rainforest drip line, with more than 10 feet of rain a year, are the forests dominated by Douglas fir, western red cedar and hemlock, growing in the mild climate with some 70 inches of rain a year, in a thick rumpled green cloak in the Cascade lowlands. —Tribune News Service, The Mercury News, 15 Oct. 2024

Grizzlies, lynx, and wolverines sniff and scratch through 800-year-old larch and some of the largest western hemlock, western red cedar, and Engelmann spruce in the valley. —Laura Yale, Outside Online, 3 Oct. 2024

The Promenade d'Iberville green roof, with western red cedar decking and more than 24,000 aromatic and flowering plants, was built on top of the city’s main cruise terminal. —Nathan Diller, USA TODAY, 25 June 2024

And per the regulation, a western red cedar would need a diameter of more than 12.6 feet to gain protection, a width that would require it to be cut in half lengthwise to fit a logging truck bed. —Jayme Moye, Outside Online, 11 June 2021

Word History

First Known Use

1874, in the meaning defined at sense 1