Open spaces in a forest or woods where trees have been removed, creating areas of ground open to sunlight.
From 'clearing' (gerund of clear). The word emerged in English around the 1500s as forests were increasingly cut for agriculture and settlement in Europe and North America.
Forest clearings created by human activity have shaped ecosystems for 10,000 years—they're not 'natural' gaps but the visible scars of human expansion, yet they've become wildlife habitats that birds and deer now depend on.
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