noun
moorland
MOOR-lund/ˈmʊrlənd/
Open, uncultivated upland covered with low vegetation.
Low shrubs and grasses cover the moorland above the village.
Etymology
The compound joins a word for swampy ground with one for land or territory. As moor came to describe open, untilled ground often covered in heath, moorland named a tract of that terrain.
In context
They were now crossing bare moorland, where anything within a mile could have easily been seen.
More examples
- The trail crosses open moorland before descending into the valley.
- Purple heather blooms across the moorland in late summer.
- These windswept moorlands offer little shelter from a storm.
Forms
moorland · moorlands
moor noun — Open, uncultivated land with low vegetation.