A copse is a small group of trees growing close together, usually smaller than a forest but larger than just a few scattered trees. Picture a thick cluster of trees in the middle of a meadow, or a dense patch of woodland at the edge of a farm: that's a copse.

These small patches of trees were often carefully managed so people could harvest wood for fuel or building materials. While many copses today aren't actively managed this way anymore, the word still describes any small, dense stand of trees.

You might read about characters in a story taking shelter in a copse during a rainstorm, or a rabbit disappearing into a copse to hide from a fox. A copse provides a concentrated bit of forest without requiring hundreds of acres: it's cozy, contained, and can serve as a natural boundary marker or wildlife habitat. If you see a tight circle of trees standing together in otherwise open land, you're looking at a copse.