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• acre
  acre

  noun

  a common measure of area: in the U.S. and U.K., 1 acre equals 4,840 square yards (4,047 square meters) or 0.405 hectare; 640 acres equals one square mile.
• Acre
  Acre

  noun

  a state in W Brazil. 58,900 sq. mi. (152,550 sq. km). Rio Branco.

acre

¹ American  

[ay-ker] / ˈeɪ kər /

noun

• acres
  plural

1. a common measure of area: in the U.S. and U.K., 1 acre equals 4,840 square yards (4,047 square meters) or 0.405 hectare; 640 acres equals one square mile.

2. acres,

   1. lands; land.

      wooded acres.

   2. Informal. large quantities.

      acres of Oriental rugs.

3. Archaic. a plowed or sown field.

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idioms

1. forty acres and a mule. mule.

Acre ² American  

[ah-kruh, ah-ker, ay-ker] / ˈɑ krə, ˈɑ kər, ˈeɪ kər /

noun

1. a state in W Brazil. 58,900 sq. mi. (152,550 sq. km). Rio Branco.

2. a seaport in NW Israel: besieged and captured by Crusaders 1191.

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acre ¹ British  

/ ˈeɪkə /

noun

1. a unit of area used in certain English-speaking countries, equal to 4840 square yards or 4046.86 square metres

2. (plural)

   1. land, esp a large area

   2. informal a large amount

      he has acres of space in his room

3. to graze cows on the verge of a road

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Acre ² British  

noun

1. a state of W Brazil: mostly unexplored tropical forests; acquired from Bolivia in 1903. Capital: Rio Branco. Pop: 586 942 (2002). Area: 152 589 sq km (58 899 sq miles)

2. Arabic name: `Akka. Hebrew name: `Akko. Old Testament name: Accho. a city and port in N Israel, strategically situated on the Bay of Acre in the E Mediterranean: taken and retaken during the Crusades (1104, 1187, 1191, 1291), taken by the Turks (1517), by Egypt (1832), and by the Turks again (1839). Pop: 45 600 (2001)

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acre Scientific  

/ ā′kər /

1. A unit of area in the US Customary System, used in land and sea floor measurement and equal to 43,560 square feet or 4,047 square meters.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• half-acre
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• acres
  plural

Etymology

Origin of acre

First recorded before 1000; Middle English aker, Old English æcer; cognate with Old Frisian ekker, Old Saxon akkar, Old High German ackar ( German Acker ), Old Norse akr, Gothic akers, Latin ager, Greek agrós, Sanskrit ájra-; see also acorn, agrarian, agrestic, agriculture, agro-

Explanation

An acre is a unit for measuring area, especially larger areas like farms. An acre is 4840 square yards. It's pretty easy to imagine a square yard: three feet by three feet. Now imagine 4840 of them and you've got an acre. That's a pretty large chunk of land, and acres are used for measuring big areas in some English-speaking countries. Large areas such as farms, forests, and golf courses are likely to be measured in acres. Farms in particular need many acres to grow crops and give the animals space to live.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

acre Acre acres

That’s enough to power thousands of homes, but they usually need less than a quarter of an acre of space, with the batteries enclosed in steel-walled containers.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 28, 2026

“My Administration is committed to protecting every acre of our lands and preserving the cleanest air and water in the world,” Trump said in a presidential message on Monday.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026

To keep up with demand, he has started planting 3 acres of fresh lettuce every other week, rather than his typical 1 acre.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 2, 2026

The lab sat on an acre of land in a forest that straddles the border of Abidagba and Iroto villages.

From Barron's ● Jul. 29, 2026

That’s around seventy-five gallons of oil per acre of corn.

From "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan

One such island in Wisconsin's Lake Chippewa is known as the Forty Acre Bog.

From BBC ● Sep. 1, 2026

Queen Camilla has celebrated 100 years since the first Winnie-the-Pooh books were published by playing poohsticks at the site which inspired Hundred Acre Wood.

From BBC ● Jul. 7, 2026

One of Shepard’s maps of the Hundred Acre Wood currently holds the Guinness Book of World Records for the most expensive book illustration sold at auction.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 9, 2026

“They are working cooperatively with the investigation into the Pickett fire,” said Sam Singer, a spokesperson for One True Vine, a company that includes Hundred Acre wines.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2025

A new highway to the Pacific is bringing ever-greater numbers of businesses to Acre.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann

Martin says they generally do – but not necessarily across their entire farm, which might be many acres in size, or have both outdoor and indoor growing areas.

From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2026

Built in 1996, the four-bedroom, 5.5-bathroom home spans 7,236 square feet and sits on 1.26 acres.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 29, 2026

To get the money, the township just needed to let NorthPoint Development build its data center, the first of 15 buildings the firm planned on 1,300 acres in the Pocono foothills.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 27, 2026

Over the last decade, her group has helped repurpose 13,000 acres of farmland in the Central Valley, enabling water to spread out, sink into the soil and replenish depleted groundwater.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 26, 2026

I wish you could’ve seen my acres in the spring, all green frizz creeping along the prairie, or in late summer, when the flax turned the fields deep sea blue.

From "Hattie Big Sky" by Kirby Larson

Related Words

• acreage
• estate
• plot
• property