farm
Americannoun
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farms
plural
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a tract of land, usually with a house, barn, silo, etc., on which crops and often livestock are raised for livelihood.
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land or water devoted to the raising of animals, fish, plants, etc..
a pig farm;
an oyster farm;
a tree farm.
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a site, usually commercial, where a product is manufactured or cultivated.
a cheese farm;
a honey farm.
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the system, method, or act of collecting revenue by leasing a territory in districts.
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a country or district leased for the collection of revenue.
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a fixed yearly amount payment of money or goods, accepted in lieu of taxes owed.
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a tract of land on which an industrial function is carried out, such as the drilling or storage of oil or the generation of electricity by solar power.
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Informal: Often Disparaging and Offensive. a place or business that serves a specified type of client or customer.
Sending people to so-called fat farms rarely increases their health.
Gone are the days when inpatient mental health care was commonly referred to as the “funny farm.”
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a business or place that turns out specified products or services in the manner of a factory; a mill.
an online content farm.
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English History.
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the rent or income from leased property.
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the condition of being leased at a fixed rent; possession under lease; a lease.
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Also called farm team,. Also called farm club. Chiefly Baseball. a team in a minor league that is owned by or affiliated with a major-league team, for training or keeping players until ready or needed.
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Obsolete. a fixed yearly amount payable in the form of rent, taxes, or the like.
verb (used with object)
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farms,
present (3rd person singular)
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farmed,
past participle, past
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farming
present participle
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to cultivate (land).
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to raise (animals, fish, plants, etc.) on land or in water.
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to take the proceeds or profits of (a tax, undertaking, etc.) on paying a fixed sum.
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to let or lease (taxes, revenues, an enterprise, etc.) to another for a fixed sum or a percentage (often followed byout ).
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to let or lease the labor or services of (a person) for hire.
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to contract for the maintenance of (a person, institution, etc.).
The county farms its poor.
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(in a video game) to collect (valuable items) for a character’s use or to sell in the game’s virtual economy by repeatedly performing a task for a reward or killing an enemy for a dropped item.
I farm crafting supplies just to sell them at the auction house.
verb (used without object)
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farms,
present (3rd person singular)
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farmed,
past participle, past
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farming
present participle
verb phrase
idioms
noun
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a tract of land, usually with house and buildings, cultivated as a unit or used to rear livestock
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( as modifier )
farm produce
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( in combination )
farmland
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a unit of land or water devoted to the growing or rearing of some particular type of vegetable, fruit, animal, or fish
a fish farm
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an installation for storage
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a district of which one or more taxes are leased
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history
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a fixed sum paid by an individual or group for the right of collecting and retaining taxes, rents, etc
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a fixed sum paid regularly by a town, county, etc, in lieu of taxes
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the leasing of a source of revenue to an individual or group
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a fixed tax, rent, etc, paid regularly
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verb
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(tr)
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to cultivate (land)
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to rear (stock, etc) on a farm
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(intr) to engage in agricultural work, esp as a way of life
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(tr) to look after a child for a fixed sum
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to collect the moneys due and retain the profits from (a tax district, business, etc) for a specified period on payment of a sum or sums
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to operate (a franchise) under similar conditions
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Usage
What is a farm? A farm is a plot of land that is used to grow crops and raise livestock, as in On our farm, we raise sheep and sell their wool. The word farm is also used as a verb to mean to work land to grow crops or to raise animals. Farms can be found in nearly every country with land suitable for growing things or feeding animals. A farm usually includes a house where the owner, their family, and their workers live and other buildings, such as a barn to house animals and a silo to store feed or harvested crops. In this same sense, farm means to cultivate the land of a farm or to raise animals on a farm, as in He farms chickens and cows for a living. Often, another word is used with farm to note what kind of crops or animals are found at a given farm. For example, a chicken farm would focus on raising chickens, while a potato farm would be dedicated to growing potatoes. A farm may also be an area of water used to raise fish, aquatic plants, or aquatic animals. For example, you could own a salmon farm where you raise salmon in tanks or enclosed ponds to be sold as food. Example: My grandfather owns a dairy farm where he raises cows and sells milk.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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minifarmnoun
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superfarmnoun
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farmableadjective
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nonfarmadjective
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profarmadjective
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unfarmableadjective
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unfarmedadjective
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well-farmedadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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farmsimple
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farmssimple
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have farmedperfect
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has farmedperfect
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am farmingprogressive
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are farmingprogressive
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is farmingprogressive
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have been farmingperfect progressive
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has been farmingperfect progressive
Past
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farmedsimple
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had farmedperfect
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was farmingprogressive
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were farmingprogressive
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had been farmingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of farm
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English ferme “lease, rented land, rent,” from Anglo-French, Old French, from Vulgar Latin ferma (unattested), derivative of fermāre (unattested) for Latin firmāre “to make firm, confirm”; see firm 1
Explanation
A farm is a plot of land that's used for growing food crops or raising livestock. A dairy farm might have cows and fields of grass for them to eat. Some farms consist of barns or other buildings, greenhouses, and fields. Small farms often grow a variety of vegetables and raise small numbers of animals such as egg-laying hens and dairy goats. Large farms frequently focus on one crop and operate like factories. To work on a farm is to farm. In the 15th century, to farm was "to rent land," from the Anglo-French ferme, "a lease," from the Latin firmare, "to fix, settle, or strengthen."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
"You can live okay with coffee, but it's durian that makes you rich," said Pham Xuan Lan, as he showed AFP journalists around his farm.
From Barron's ● Aug. 30, 2026
The farm, Fuego Vivo, was purchased three years ago by my host, a young local architect, Fernando Arozarena.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
She said the inspiration was her father, who quit school to work on a farm and struggled to read.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 28, 2026
Some were crammed into the back of ancient farm vehicles drawn by donkeys.
From BBC ● Aug. 27, 2026
And once we get to the farm, we will be warm as toast, and we shall have all the food we can eat.
From "An Elephant in the Garden" by Michael Morpurgo
Aquaculture farms can be found all along Maine’s coastline, with an official Maine Oyster Trail linking many of the stops along the way.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 29, 2026
Are 'tech dense' farms the future of farming?
From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2026
For millennia, people have transformed landscapes, forcing wildlife to adjust to cities, farms, roads, and other human activity.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 28, 2026
Deng wants to put AI to work on farms and start his own company.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2026
He doesn’t seem to know very much about farms, even though I got him some library books on how to grow things.
From "Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer" by Kelly Jones
Researchers are using species recently approved for human consumption as models and comparing the genomes of farmed insects with those of pre-domestication individuals preserved in entomological collections.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 27, 2026
A spokesperson for Daera said the court directed that the defendant be deprived of the ownership of all farmed animals and ordered their destruction.
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026
Two-thirds of U.S. seafood is imported; much of that comes in the form of farmed fish, such as Atlantic salmon, tilapia and Vietnamese catfish.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026
His Bedouin ancestors earned great wealth pearl diving—until foreign farmed pearls tanked the market and left the local economy in shambles.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 19, 2026
In his village, people farmed the tiniest plots outside their homes and planted useful vegetables and herbs.
From "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
She would not necessarily sit down with you; chances were good that she had eaten hours earlier, at some time I associated primarily with airport departures and dairy farming.
From Salon ● Aug. 31, 2026
When McKeen’s company started farming oysters in 1986, most chefs thought the shellfish came in a can, he said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 29, 2026
Her arc mirrored that of my Mexican immigrant parents, who were also mountain people who grew up in big farming families with no plumbing or electricity, snuggling with siblings during winter nights in unheated bedrooms.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026
Even pottery that enters the ground whole often cracks over the centuries as soil pressure, farming, construction, and other disturbances shift the earth around it.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 22, 2026
Gold, for example, is too soft to be made into tools for farming or building.
From "An Indigenous People’s History of the United States" by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
