Meanings
moorland1
plural moorlands
- countableuncountableOpen land that has an acidic peaty soil and is mostly covered with heather or bracken.
Troutbeck station, 10 miles from Keswick, in the heart of wild moorland, is the most isolated on the line.
1961 October, 'Voyageur', “The Cockermouth, Keswick & Penrith Railway”, in Trains Illustrated, page 6011 more example
The completely-industrialised outskirts of Newcastle gradually give place to rural surroundings, and the Tyne becomes a moorland river with a boulder-strewn bed.
1955 September, H. A. Vallance, “The Border Counties Line”, in Railway Magazine, page 593Synonyms: moor
Moorland2
- A locality in the MidCoast council area, eastern New South Wales, Australia.
Synonyms & antonyms
nounOpen land that has an acidic peaty soil and is mostly covered with heather or bracken.
More synonyms by meaning
nounopen land usually with peaty soil covered with heather and bracken and moss
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Middle Englishmorelond
- Englishmoorland
From Middle English morelond, equivalent to moor + land. Compare Old Norse mýrlendi (“moorland”).
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Dutch heide, veen
- heideland covered with heather or bracken
- veenland covered with heather or bracken
Finnish nummi
- nummiland covered with heather or bracken
French lande, bruyère
- landeland covered with heather or bracken
- bruyèreland covered with heather or bracken
- brandeland covered with heather or bracken
Italian landa, brughiera
- landaland covered with heather or bracken
- brughieraland covered with heather or bracken
Persian خلنگزار
- خلنگزار (xalangzâr)land covered with heather or bracken
Portuguese charneca
- charnecaland covered with heather or bracken
Scottish Gaelic monadh, sliabh
- monadhland covered with heather or bracken
- sliabhland covered with heather or bracken
- mòinteachland covered with heather or bracken
Tagalog labunan
- labunanland covered with heather or bracken
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
moorland. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/moorland
“moorland.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/moorland. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “moorland,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/moorland.
Source: moorland on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.