pasture
noun
an area covered with grass or other plants used or suitable for the grazing of livestock; grassland.
Showing results for pasture.
Search instead for
Postur.
Jump To:
pasture
1 American
[pas-cher, pahs-]
/ ˈpæs tʃər, ˈpɑs- /
noun
-
pastures
plural
-
Also called pastureland. an area covered with grass or other plants used or suitable for the grazing of livestock; grassland.
-
a specific area or piece of such ground.
-
grass or other plants for feeding livestock.
verb (used with object)
-
pastures,
present (3rd person singular)
-
pastured,
past participle, past
-
pasturing
present participle
-
to feed (livestock) by putting them out to graze on pasture.
-
(of land) to furnish with pasture.
-
(of livestock) to graze upon.
verb (used without object)
-
pastures,
present (3rd person singular)
-
pastured,
past participle, past
-
pasturing
present participle
idioms
Pasture
2
American
[pah-tyr]
/ pɑˈtür /
noun
pasture
British
/ ˈpɑːstʃə /
noun
-
land covered with grass or herbage and grazed by or suitable for grazing by livestock
-
a specific tract of such land
-
the grass or herbage growing on it
verb
pasture
More Idioms
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
pasturesimple
-
pasturessimple
-
have pasturedperfect
-
has pasturedperfect
-
am pasturingprogressive
-
are pasturingprogressive
-
is pasturingprogressive
-
have been pasturingperfect progressive
-
has been pasturingperfect progressive
Past
-
pasturedsimple
-
had pasturedperfect
-
was pasturingprogressive
-
were pasturingprogressive
-
had been pasturingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of pasture
1250–1300; Middle English < Middle French < Late Latin pāstūra, equivalent to Latin pāst ( us ), past participle of pāscere to feed, pasture ( cf. pastor) + -ūra -ure
Explanation
If your cattle are feeling hungry, you should let them pasture, or graze, in a grassy field known as a pasture. Pasture is both a noun and a verb associated with grazing animals. As a noun, a pasture is a field where animals such as horses and cattle can graze, or feed. Pasture can also refer to the grasses or other plants that grow in a pasture. As a verb, pasture means "to graze" or "to release animals into a pasture for grazing." You also might hear this word used in the idiom "Put out to pasture," which means "to retire someone," usually because of old age.
Vocabulary lists containing pasture
Chains
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Human Geography - Middle School
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Human Geography - High School
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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:
Now she breeds her own yaks on 120 acres of pasture, foothills and mesa tops high in bucolic Ridgway, about 290 miles west of Denver.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 8, 2026
“I love working with animals,” she said, plodding down a gravel road toward a clover-carpeted pasture.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026
Out to pasture: Despite a big-name cast, apparently good ratings and an Emmy push, Netflix has canceled the sci-fi thriller “The Boroughs” after one season.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 30, 2026
"This will be our last year," Deliev said, driving his cows to pasture in the Rhodope mountains.
From Barron's ● Jun. 25, 2026
“From the garden patch, where we’re living, to the edge of the pasture by the stream.”
From "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH" by Robert C. O'Brien
According to Aimee Picchi of CBS News, “The Kirkland Signature Organic Pasture Raised 24-Count Eggs were sold at 25 Costco locations across several states.”
From Salon ● Dec. 3, 2024
Pasture and range conditions have also seen slight improvements since early May, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service, but soil moisture continues to be low across the state.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 7, 2023
Peaceful and quiet are a pair of words that appear like incantations in the passages of Winter Pasture devoted to her deepest feelings.
From Slate ● Feb. 24, 2021
At the small pebble beach near a park called Blackies Pasture, a surgical mask is tangled in the marsh at the edge of the Bay.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 10, 2020
The Far Pasture will be pretty sure to be left unguarded.
From The Boy Scouts On The Range by Payson, Lieut. Howard
But that focus on greener pastures is as persistent as the apparent blood feud between Texas and Tennessee.
From Salon ● Aug. 3, 2026
Four years ago, a major drought dried up pastures and water supplies, forcing ranchers to sell their livestock.
From Barron's ● Jul. 1, 2026
Visitors were greeted by security forces in flak jackets, some in military camouflage and others toting submachine guns, scattered amid a landscape of green pastures, wooden chalets and snowy peaks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 21, 2026
If Lily, Mopple and the rest can set their part of the world right, there’s no reason we can’t find our way to better pastures, too.
From Salon ● May 17, 2026
All day in the pastures, I sloshed around in my boots with my goat, Cheetah, and Josefa and the other cows and sheep.
From "The Queen of Water" by Laura Resau
More recently, Lake, who grows vegetables such as asparagus, tomatoes and zucchini, as well as pastured meat, has been using software and an app from a company called Tend.
From BBC ● Jan. 19, 2026
Cows and sheep should not be allowed to roam over public lands and should be pastured in fenced areas and protected by guard dogs.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 10, 2023
Grass Roots Farmers' Cooperative sells grassfed beef, forested pork and pastured poultry from a network of small farms mostly located in Arkansas and Missouri and owns and operates its own processing.
From Salon ● Aug. 15, 2021
One study suggests that pastured hens deposit more lutein and zeaxanthin into their egg yolks.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 20, 2019
Farmers don’t keep their livestock tied or pastured up like we do in town.
From "Cold Sassy Tree" by Olive Ann Burns
In the past 30 years, swaths of Nicaragua's vast Caribbean forests have been destroyed by settlers clearing land for agriculture, ranchers pasturing cattle, and loggers harvesting precious wood.
From Salon ● Oct. 12, 2020
“We need to witness our own limits transgressed, and some life pasturing freely where we never wander.”
From The New Yorker ● Oct. 19, 2015
“And what is the history? The horse pasturing has been going on for a long time there with no objection.”
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 24, 2015
The horse in question, Raisa, might have expected a quiet pasturing after a working life carrying members of the Metropolitan Police Service.
From Time ● Mar. 28, 2012
Three of his young men were afield, pasturing herds in other woods; one he had sent with a fat boar for tribute into town, the boy to serve while the suitors got their fill.
From "The Odyssey" by Homer
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.
