oil palm

noun

: an African pinnate-leaved palm (Elaeis guineensis) cultivated for its clustered fruit whose flesh and seeds yield oil

Examples of oil palm in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Then, in the early 1970s and the decades after, many forests were logged and then cleared for palm oil plantations, until more than one-fifth of the total area of Sabah was planted with oil palms, according to a 2022 study published in the journal Land Use Policy. —Mihir Zaveri, New York Times, 25 Nov. 2024

Between the towns there are rice fields, limestone outcroppings, and repeat patterns of oil palms that stretch as far as the eye can see. —Arati Menon, Condé Nast Traveler, 25 May 2024

Macaques bash open oil palm nuts by placing them on a flat stone and striking their shell with another stone. —Zach Zorich, Scientific American, 10 Mar. 2023

But environmental benefits accrue only if existing cropland is converted to oil palms. —Patricia Cohen Jes Aznar, New York Times, 14 Mar. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1850, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

oil palm

noun

: a palm that is cultivated for its clusters of fruits from which a vegetable oil is obtained