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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  

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 ² 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 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

Garrett said he is also using about 40% less fertilizer an acre since he is planting fewer seeds.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 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

In terms of their effects on birds, the prescribed use of heptachlor would be equivalent to 20 pounds of DDT to the acre, that of dieldrin to 120 pounds!

From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson

Museums are also open public spaces that have less access control and perpetrators can come in as visitors, says Kumar Sokka, CEO of Acre Security which works with some museums in Europe.

From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026

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

From BBC ● Sep. 1, 2026

Reunion in Spring Green offers elevated, locally driven barbecue, and, in the town of Paoli, Seven Acre Dairy Company’s autumn dinner series showcases Driftless fare reimagined by chefs from across the nation.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 3, 2025

“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

I read God’s Little Acre, by Erskine Caldwell, or at least parts of it, once a month.

From "Bad Boy" by Walter Dean Myers

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

As California’s wine industry struggles, a family-owned vineyard spanning 3,500 acres is for sale after its exports to Canada dropped 35% in a year.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026

Fish and Wildlife Service would give SpaceX around 700 acres near Starbase in exchange for a similarly sized plot in another part of the county.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 24, 2026

Then in 2001 Cargil signed a deal to lease 600 acres of his land, about a quarter of the total, to a company called OCI Energy which built a vast solar farm.

From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026

Over the next two decades, the Osage were forced to cede nearly a hundred million acres of their ancestral land, ultimately finding refuge in a 50-by-125-mile area in southeastern Kansas.

From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann

Related Words

• acreage
• estate
• plot
• property