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• plantation
  plantation

  noun

  a large farm or estate in a tropical or semitropical zone, for the cultivation of cotton, tobacco, coffee, sugarcane, etc., typically by enslaved, unpaid, or low-wage resident laborers.
• Plantation
  Plantation

  noun

  a town in S Florida.

plantation

¹ American  

[plan-tey-shuhn] / plænˈteɪ ʃən /

noun

• plantations
  plural

1. a large farm or estate in a tropical or semitropical zone, for the cultivation of cotton, tobacco, coffee, sugarcane, etc., typically by enslaved, unpaid, or low-wage resident laborers.

2. a group of planted trees or plants.

3. History/Historical.

   1. a colony or new settlement.

   2. the establishment of a colony or new settlement.

4. Archaic. the planting of seeds, young trees, etc.

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adjective

1. (of clothing, furnishings, etc.) suitable for a plantation or for a tropical or semitropical country.

Plantation ² American  

[plan-tey-shuhn] / plænˈteɪ ʃən /

noun

1. a town in S Florida.

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plantation British  

/ plænˈteɪʃən /

noun

1. an estate, esp in tropical countries, where cash crops such as rubber, oil palm, etc, are grown on a large scale

2. a group of cultivated trees or plants

3. (formerly) a colony or group of settlers

4. rare the planting of seeds, shoots, etc

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• plantationlike
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• plantations
  plural

Etymology

Origin of plantation

First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English plantacioune, from Latin plantātiōn- (stem of plantātiō ) “a planting”; see plant (verb), -ation

Explanation

A plantation is a large agricultural property dedicated to planting a few crops on a large scale. If you dream of having 3,000 acres to raise cucumbers on, then you have dreams of a cucumber plantation. Plantation doesn't have to only mean massive single-product farms. A small grove of trees is also called a plantation, but usually when we use the word we mean the big farms. In the United States prior to the Civil War, crops like cotton and tobacco were grown on plantations in the South by exploiting the labor of enslaved people. In Latin America, many international companies own banana and coffee plantations.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

plantation Plantation plantations

Eston Hemings was born on May 21, 1808, and raised in slavery at Monticello, the Jefferson plantation in Virginia.

From Salon ● Jul. 27, 2026

After inheriting a 5,000-acre plantation near Charlottesville, Va., in 1764, Jefferson began designing his house.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026

Duncan was born Ruby Lee Phillips on June 7, 1932, near Tallulah, La., where her parents, Ida Bolden and Joseph Phillips, were sharecroppers on a white-owned plantation.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 5, 2026

He was unable to train that day because he had not had time to collect his kit after finishing work at a papaya plantation.

From Barron's ● Jun. 3, 2026

On setting sail, I walked aft, and gave to Colonel Lloyd’s plantation what I hoped would be the last look.

From "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass" by Frederick Douglass

Long lives with his wife and nine children in Pecan Plantation, a community that could neighbor one of the county’s proposed data centers.

From Salon ● Jun. 6, 2026

He put some of the first conservation easements in the country on Hope Plantation and St. Phillips Island, according to “Last Stand.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 8, 2026

Though Coe failed to shake up country music at that time, he would still release singles under Singleton’s Nashville-based record company, Plantation Records.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 30, 2026

Matthew Saneholtz, chief investment officer and senior wealth adviser at Tobias Financial Advisors in Plantation, Fla., told MarketWatch.

From MarketWatch ● Nov. 6, 2025

Plantation owners thus viewed Africans, who were relatively powerless, as the ideal slaves.

From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander

American inspectors in Michoacán, who monitor plantations and packing plants to ensure the fruit is pest-free, occasionally have found themselves in the cross-hairs.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026

Many vicars, bishops, and archbishops are known to have personally managed investments in plantations, and in the South Sea Company, sometimes paying for renovations to churches and cathedrals.

From BBC ● Jun. 18, 2026

But the land was fertile, and the Native Americans told of even richer soil to the east, ideal for encomiendas, as large Spanish-ruled plantations exploiting indigenous labor were called.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 28, 2026

At first they made money from illegal logging and plantations, later benefitting from a speculative property boom in the cities fuelled by Chinese investors.

From BBC ● Apr. 6, 2026

Benjamin, John and William Henry were still in Maryland, working on plantations where they had been hired out.

From "Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad" by Ann Petry

Related Words

• estate
• homestead
• orchard
• ranch