landscape

noun, verb

1 [C,usually sing.] everything you can see when you look across a large area of land, especially in the country: the rugged / mountainous / dramatic landscape of Bolivia * the woods and fields that are typical features of the English landscape * an urban / industrial landscape * (figurative) We can expect changes in the political landscape. 2 [C,U] a painting of a view of the countryside; this style of painting: a British artist famous for his landscapes * She specializes in landscapes. compareTOWNSCAPE 3 [U] (technical) the way of printing a document in which the top of the page is one of the longer sides: Select the landscape option when printing the file. comparePORTRAIT IDIOMS see BLOTn. verb [VN] to improve the appearance of an area of land by changing the design and planting trees, flowers, etc: landscaped gardens ______________________________ WHICHWORD? landscape / scenery / countryside The following adjectives are frequently used with these nouns: ~ landscape ~ scenery ~ countryside English beautiful surrounding tab rural mountain English natural spectacular open flat dramatic beautiful bleak breathtaking rolling urban coastal unspoilt The landscape [C] of an area is the way its physical features are arranged: Mountains dominate the Welsh landscape. * an urban landscape. You use scenery [U] when you are saying that these physical features are attractive to look at: We stopped to admire the scenery. The country/countryside [U] describes land that is away from towns and cities: When I was a child, I spent a lot of time in the country. * a country house/park/road * the surrounding countryside. The country is more common in this sense but countryside is used especially in official language or when it would not be clear which sense of country is meant: the Wildlife and Countryside Act. ______________________________