agrarian

[uh-grair-ee-uh n]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR agrarian ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

relating to land, land tenure, or the division of landed property: agrarian laws.

pertaining to the advancement of agricultural groups: an agrarian movement.

composed of or pertaining to farmers: an agrarian co-op.

rural; agricultural.

growing in fields; wild: an agrarian plant.

noun

a person who favors the equal division of landed property and the advancement of agricultural groups.

Origin of agrarian

1610–20; < Latin agrāri(us) (agr- stem of ager field, acre + -ārius -ary) + -an; cf. agrestal

Related formsa·grar·i·an·ly, adverbnon·a·grar·i·an, adjective, nounpro·a·grar·i·an, adjectivesu·per·a·grar·i·an, adjectiveun·a·grar·i·an, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for agrarian

rural, agricultural, natural, peasant, rustic, uncultivated, undomesticated

Examples from the Web for agrarian

Contemporary Examples of agrarian

And in Agrarian Justice, he proposed taxing the landed rich to provide grants to young people and pensions to the elderly.
Palin's Unlikely Hero
Harvey J. Kaye
November 17, 2009
This policy would have put Roosevelt in the same general category of agrarian reform as Stalin and Mao Tse-tung.
Why The Right Should Leave FDR Alone
Conrad Black
October 22, 2008

Historical Examples of agrarian

Posnania was menaced by an agrarian strike, but a settlement has been reached.
The Paper Moneys of Europe
Francis W. Hirst
The movement is politically nearly as strong in the agrarian districts as elsewhere.
Socialism
John Spargo
He was an Agrarian, who wanted every man desirous to own a farm to have one.
The Journal of Negro History, Volume 3, 1918
Various
The Agrarian question was regarded generally as one of the most urgent.
The Birth of Yugoslavia, Volume 2
Henry Baerlein
The Czechs believe that Agrarian Reform should be the work of a generation.
The Birth of Yugoslavia, Volume 2
Henry Baerlein

British Dictionary definitions for agrarian

agrarian

adjective

of or relating to land or its cultivation or to systems of dividing landed property

of or relating to rural or agricultural matters

noun

a person who favours the redistribution of landed property

Derived Formsagrarianism, noun

Word Origin for agrarian

C16: from Latin agrārius, from ager field, land

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for agrarian

adj.

1610s, "relating to the land," from Middle French loy agrarienne "agrarian law," from Latin Lex agraria, the Roman law for the division of conquered lands, from agrarius "of the land," from ager (genitive agri) "a field," from PIE *agro- (cf. Greek agros "field," Gothic akrs, Old English æcer "field;" see acre). Meaning "having to do with cultivated land" first recorded 1792.