# landscape

Pronunciation: say "LAND-skayp" US /ˈlæn(d)skeɪp/, UK /ˈlan(d)skeɪp/

## Noun

1. A stretch of land that the eye can take in at a single view, together with everything visible within it.
   - Simple: The stretch of land you can see all at once from one spot.
   - _The climbers paused at the summit to take in the vast landscape._
   - _A single glance across the valley revealed a landscape of farms, woods, and a winding river._
2. An area of land or territory defined by its landform and by its geographical and architectural features.
   - Simple: An area of land known by its shape and by its natural and built features.
   - _Volcanic activity gave the region a rugged landscape of black rock and steep ridges._
   - _Urban planners studied how the landscape would change once the new district was built._
3. The overall set of conditions or circumstances shaping a particular area of activity at a given moment.
   - Simple: The general state of things in some area of life at a certain time.
   - _The competitive landscape shifted dramatically when the startup entered the market._
   - _Regulators are struggling to keep up with a fast-changing technology landscape._
4. A page or image orientation in which the horizontal sides are longer than the vertical sides.
   - Simple: A page layout that is wider than it is tall.
   - _The designer set the brochure in landscape to give the photographs more width._
   - _Wide charts are easier to read when the page is formatted as landscape._
6. A picture showing a real or imagined scene of nature, such as fields, hills, forests, or water, as its main subject.
   - Simple: A painting or drawing that shows natural scenery like fields, hills, or the sea.
   - _The gallery's newest landscape depicts a storm rolling over open farmland._
   - _He spent the summer painting landscapes along the rocky coast._
7. A space, whether indoor or outdoor and natural or made by people, considered as a designed or shaped setting.
   - Simple: Any space, inside or outside and natural or built, that is shaped for a purpose.
   - _The museum's central atrium was conceived as a sculpted indoor landscape._
   - _Designers treated the lobby as a man-made landscape of stone, light, and greenery._
8. The visual character or scenery of a country, considered as a whole.
   - Simple: The way a country looks, taken as one whole scene.
   - _The film captured the bleak landscape of the northern moors._
   - _Tuscany's rolling landscape has inspired painters for centuries._
9. The social character of a physical area, seen in terms of how people live and interact within it.
   - Simple: The social side of an area: how people live and relate there.
   - _Researchers mapped the social landscape of the city's poorest districts._
   - _From shop signs to hallway chatter, the campus's linguistic landscape reveals how many languages its students bring with them._

## Verb

5. To design, build, or maintain the planted and shaped features of an outdoor area.
   - Simple: To shape and care for an area of ground by adding plants, paths, and other features.
   - _The couple hired a firm to landscape their steeply sloping garden._
   - _Volunteers landscaped the schoolyard with native shrubs and trees._

## Origin

This is an alteration, influenced by Dutch 'landschap', of an earlier English form 'landskip', which goes back to Old English 'landsċipe' meaning 'region, district, tract of land'. In some senses it comes directly from Dutch 'landschap' ('region, province, landscape'), and it is related to German 'Landschaft' and Swedish 'landskap'. By surface analysis it breaks down as land + -ship.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/landscape (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).