sagebrush
noun
sage·brush ˈsāj-ˌbrəsh 
: any of several North American hoary composite subshrubs (genus Artemisia)
especially : one (A. tridentata) having a bitter juice and an odor resembling sage and often covering vast tracts of alkaline plains in the western U.S.
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the Web The footage shows the officer come up on five people and three vehicles on a dirt road in an open area of sagebrush. 
Kolbie Peterson, The Salt Lake Tribune, 12 Aug. 2022 Fragments of the building’s foundation sit as a reminder of the cruelty among the sagebrush and scrub oak. Courtney Tanner, The Salt Lake Tribune, 31 May 2022 Surrounded by wild sagebrush and bright yellow mustard, Jayden Samuels excitedly points out a hawk swooping downward in the sky. Maya Richard-craven, Los Angeles Times, 9 May 2022 The property is a rolling mix of bluffs and coulees, sagebrush flats and grasslands. Christine Peterson, Outside Online, 15 June 2022 The attractions takes about half the land, with the other half a bioreserve of undeveloped acres for coastal sagebrush and other indigenous plants and wildlife in the San Pasqual Valley near Escondido. Gary Warth, San Diego Union-Tribune, 16 May 2022 Horned lizards shuffled in the sagebrush beneath us, but my horse’s gaze remained locked on his untamed brethren. New York Times, 26 July 2021 In its middle miles, the gradient backs off a notch and the land alternates between steep walls and softer sagebrush country. Christopher Solomon, Travel + Leisure, 20 Mar. 2022 Replanting the native sagebrush will keep invasive species from moving in and robbing the sage grouse—a candidate for protection under the Endangered Species Act, according to the U.S. Forest Service—of their food source. The Editors, Outside Online, 18 June 2015 See More
Kolbie Peterson, The Salt Lake Tribune, 12 Aug. 2022 Fragments of the building’s foundation sit as a reminder of the cruelty among the sagebrush and scrub oak. Courtney Tanner, The Salt Lake Tribune, 31 May 2022 Surrounded by wild sagebrush and bright yellow mustard, Jayden Samuels excitedly points out a hawk swooping downward in the sky. Maya Richard-craven, Los Angeles Times, 9 May 2022 The property is a rolling mix of bluffs and coulees, sagebrush flats and grasslands. Christine Peterson, Outside Online, 15 June 2022 The attractions takes about half the land, with the other half a bioreserve of undeveloped acres for coastal sagebrush and other indigenous plants and wildlife in the San Pasqual Valley near Escondido. Gary Warth, San Diego Union-Tribune, 16 May 2022 Horned lizards shuffled in the sagebrush beneath us, but my horse’s gaze remained locked on his untamed brethren. New York Times, 26 July 2021 In its middle miles, the gradient backs off a notch and the land alternates between steep walls and softer sagebrush country. Christopher Solomon, Travel + Leisure, 20 Mar. 2022 Replanting the native sagebrush will keep invasive species from moving in and robbing the sage grouse—a candidate for protection under the Endangered Species Act, according to the U.S. Forest Service—of their food source. The Editors, Outside Online, 18 June 2015 See More Word History
First Known Use
1850, in the meaning defined above
Kids Definition
sagebrush
noun
sage·brush ˈsāj-ˌbrəsh
: a plant of the western United States that grows as a low shrub and has a bitter juice and strong smell