shrub

1 of 2

noun (1)

ˈshrəb 

especially Southern ˈsrəb

: a low usually several-stemmed woody plant

shrub-like adjective

or shrublike

ˈshrəb-ˌlīk 

especially Southern ˈsrəb-

shrub-like plants

shrub

2 of 2

noun (2)

1

: an aged blend of fruit juice, sugar, and spirits served chilled and diluted with water

2

: a beverage made by adding acidulated fruit juice to iced water

Examples of shrub in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Canopies of the taller, darker shrubs stick out of the snow and absorb more energy from the sun than the blanket of white snow, which reflects heat back. — ABC News, 25 Aug. 2026

Swim, canoe, geocache, and bird-watch among Bastrop State Park’s mosaic of pines, oaks, shrubs, and grasslands, which are punctuated by a carpet of bluebonnets each spring. — Allison Tibaldi, USA Today, 25 Aug. 2026

Some are trees, some are shrubs, some are native to us here in the American South and some flourish in parts of Asia half a world away. — Aj Willingham, AJC.com, 23 Aug. 2026

The city plans to plant nine acres of natural grass, more than 200 trees and nearly 8,000 shrubs and other plants at the park. — Daniel Lempres, Sacbee.com, 21 Aug. 2026

Word History

Etymology

Noun (1)

Middle English schrobbe, from Old English scrybb brushwood; akin to Norwegian skrubbebær, a cornel of a dwarf species

Noun (2)

Arabic sharāb beverage

First Known Use

Noun (1)

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined above

Noun (2)

circa 1706, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for shrub

• bub
• club
• cub
• dub
• grub
• hub
• nub
• pub
• rub
• scrub
• snub
• stub

Kids Definition

shrub

noun

ˈshrəb

: a woody plant that has several stems and is smaller than most trees