sapling
/'sæpliɳ/
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
Noun: 1. A young tree: A tree that is young and typically slender, especially one that is not yet mature or fully grown. 2. (Figurative) A young person: Used metaphorically to refer to a young person, particularly one who is developing or inexperienced.
Examples
- Literal (young tree):
- We planted several oak saplings in the park last spring.
- The forest fire destroyed many mature trees but spared some of the smaller saplings.
- Figurative (young person):
- As a political sapling, he had much to learn from the seasoned veterans.
- The team is full of promising saplings who will grow into great athletes.
Advanced Usage
- "to be a sapling": To be in an early stage of growth or development.
- The company is still a sapling in the tech industry, but it shows great potential.
Variants and Related Words
- Saplinghood (n, rare): The state or period of being a sapling.
- Sap (n): The fluid, typically watery, that circulates through a plant. (Note: This is a related biological term but not a variant of "sapling").
Synonyms
- Young tree: Seedling, youngling.
- Young person: Youth, juvenile, adolescent, greenhorn (informal, emphasizing inexperience).
Related Phrases
(Note: "Sapling" is not commonly used to form phrasal verbs.)
Related Idioms
- "From acorn to mighty oak": This idiom describes growth from a small beginning to something great and can be conceptually related to a sapling's development, though it does not contain the word "sapling".
- His career went from acorn to mighty oak over two decades.