noun
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an area of grassland, often used for hay or for grazing of animals
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a low-lying piece of grassland, often boggy and near a river
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of meadow
before 1000; Middle English medwe, Old English mǣdw-, oblique stem of mǣd mead 2; akin to German Matte
Explanation
The noun meadow is another word for a hayfield, but offers a much more picturesque view as an open field of lush grass filled with butterflies and birds, with room to run. It can also refer to a piece of land found along a river. The word meadow refers to any grassland or hayfield, often just an expansive area that should be mowed. Indeed, the word comes from the Old English word mæd from the Germanic mædwon the base of which means “mow.” Still, the bucolic feeling is retained, as Dale Carnegie put it: “Let us not get so busy or live so fast that we can't listen to the music of the meadow or the symphony that glorifies the forest."
Vocabulary lists containing meadow
Beowulf vocabulary
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"The Wife of Bath's Tale," Vocabulary from the narrative poem
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List 6
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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:
Due to her office being near a pond and a meadow, the wasps were able to get food and water.
From BBC ● Oct. 21, 2026
A sliver of meadow and trees on the edge of Yosemite National Park has become an unlikely battleground over whether development is allowed in national parks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2026
"The project is so massive that it's basically hard to really grasp, even though we're right here on the sidelines," Pitkanen said, as a few cows dozed in a meadow in front of the barn.
From Barron's ● Oct. 4, 2026
But if you were in that meadow with hundreds of happy people sighing out every “ah-ah” in unison, you would have quickly picked up that refrain and maybe even joined the chorus.
From Salon ● Sep. 13, 2026
She and Garikayi helped him back to the meadow.
From "A Girl Named Disaster" by Nancy Farmer
Currently, the birds are found in alpine meadows, located high in the mountains above the forests, which form some of the Himalayas' most important seasonal grazing and biodiversity-rich habitats.
From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026
Agricultural fields and meadows ranked between gardens and lawns.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 28, 2026
Their grazing in the newly-sown meadows would "help create a more varied habitat structure", the estate said.
From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026
"Oil contamination in the Hallaniyat Islands threatens coral reefs, seagrass meadows and coastal habitats that support endangered sea turtles, migratory seabirds and marine mammals," Noelle said.
From Barron's ● Aug. 6, 2026
There were green meadows on either side of the valley, and along the bottom of it there flowed a great brown river.
From "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" by Roald Dahl
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
