jungle
6 synonyms and 0 antonyms for jungle, grouped by meaning and by how common each one is.
Noun — A dense tropical forest thick with trees, vines, and wildlife.
Synonyms
Everyday swaps
Common words most readers know — safe in any writing.
Less common
Still standard English, but they carry more weight.
Rare, literary or technical
Precise, but they will stand out — check the sense before using one.
How to use jungle
The word patterns that sound natural to a native speaker.
Etymology
From Hindi/Sanskrit jangala, originally meaning rough, uncultivated land, before it came to mean dense tropical forest in English.
Full origin of jungle →Frequently asked questions
What does “jungle” mean?
The word “jungle” means a dense tropical forest thick with trees, vines, and wildlife. In plain terms, a thick tropical forest, or by extension any chaotic, every-person-for-themselves situation.
How do you pronounce “jungle”?
“Jungle” is pronounced JUHNG-gl (/ˈd͡ʒʌŋ.ɡ(ə)l/ in IPA).
How do you use “jungle” in a sentence?
Here is “jungle” used in a sentence: “The explorers hacked their way through the jungle with machetes.”
What part of speech is “jungle”?
“Jungle” is a noun.
Where does the word “jungle” come from?
The word “jungle” comes from Sanskrit. From Hindi/Sanskrit jangala, originally meaning rough, uncultivated land, before it came to mean dense tropical forest in English.
Is “jungle” a common word?
“Jungle” is a fairly common word in modern English, usually learned at around the B1 level.
How many meanings does “jungle” have?
“Jungle” has 2 distinct senses listed in this dictionary. The most common is: a dense tropical forest thick with trees, vines, and wildlife.
What is the difference between a jungle and a forest?
A forest is any large area covered with trees, found in many climates. A jungle is a specific kind of dense tropical forest, thick with tangled trees, vines, and wildlife, so all jungles are forests but not all forests are jungles.
What is the difference between a jungle and a rainforest?
A rainforest has a thick canopy overhead that shades the ground, leaving the floor relatively open. A jungle refers to areas where dense undergrowth of vines and plants grows at ground level, often where light reaches the forest, making it harder to move through.
Is calling a place a 'jungle' literal or figurative?
It can be either. Literally, a jungle is a dense tropical forest, but figuratively the word describes any situation or environment seen as chaotic, cutthroat, or lawless, such as calling a crowded city 'a concrete jungle.'