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sequoia

noun

Simple meaning

A very large, tall evergreen tree found in California.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

sihkwoyuh

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

sɪkˈwɔɪə

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. Sequoia sempervirens, a coniferous evergreen tree, the only living species of the genus Sequoia.

  2. Sequoiadendron giganteum, a coniferous evergreen tree formerly in the genus Sequoia, now placed in Sequoiadendron.

  3. Either of two huge coniferous California trees that reach a height of 300 feet; sometimes placed in the Taxodiaceae

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
C1 · Advanced (estimated)
Frequency
Uncommon
Typical Use
Neutral / general English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

This meaning: Sequoia sempervirens, a coniferous evergreen tree, the only living species of the genus Sequoia.

Used this way, sequoia is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a scientific use: it names something precisely within a field of study, so it appears in research and teaching more than in conversation.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Specialist/technical
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Specialized
Connotation
Clinical and technical
Usage feel
Technical and specialized

Where it naturally appears

  • Science
  • Academic writing
  • Technical/specialist writing

Usage note

In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

giant sequoiagenus sequoiasequoia treesequoia capitalsequoia parksequoia unionsequoia groveyacht sequoia

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • sequoia giganteanounCompound term

    Extremely lofty evergreen of southern end of western foothills of Sierra Nevada in California.

  • sequoia national parknounCompound term

    A national park in California that includes Mount Whitney.

  • sequoia sempervirensnounCompound term

    Lofty evergreen of United States coastal foothills from Oregon to Big Sur.

  • sequoia wellingtonianounCompound term

    Extremely lofty evergreen of southern end of western foothills of Sierra Nevada in California.

  • giant sequoianounCompound term

    Extremely lofty evergreen of southern end of western foothills of Sierra Nevada in California.

  • genus sequoianounCompound term

    Redwoods.

Related words

Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.

Related Words

Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: sequoia sempervirens or a coniferous evergreen tree

redwood

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.