arboretum •\ˌär-bə-ˈre-təm\• noun : a facility where trees and shrubs are cultivated for exhibition The word arboretum has appeared in 59 New York Times articles in the past year, including on Oct. 23 in "Seeing Nature Through My Father's Eyes" by Isaac Blum: When my father grew up in the 1960s, people must have loved nature and thought it was important to spend time in it. Basically, an arboretum is a little sanctuary for older people to visit, so they can pretend that the world isn't mostly strip malls. My father loves arboretums. He loves birds, and bushes, and bugs, and flowers, and raccoons, and trees, and groundhogs, and vines and snakes. We get out of the car. We start walking. We walk some more. We continue to walk. Occasionally, my father points out a plant and exclaims, "Isn't that interesting?" It's never interesting. Sometimes, he stops, takes a deep breath, and says, "Just look how beautiful this is. Isn't this just spectacular? Learn more about the word "arboretum" and see usage examples across a range of subjects on the Vocabulary dictionary.