agriculture
Americannoun
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the science, art, or occupation concerned with cultivating land, raising crops, and feeding, breeding, and raising livestock; farming.
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the production of crops, livestock, or poultry.
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of agriculture
First recorded in 1425–75; late Middle English, from Middle French, from Latin agrīcultūra, from agrī (genitive singular of ager “field”) + cultūra culture
Explanation
Agriculture describes the practice of growing crops or raising animals. Someone who works as a farmer is in the agriculture industry. The Latin root of agriculture is agri, or "field," plus cultura, "cultivation." Cultivating a piece of land, or planting and growing food plants on it, is largely what agriculture means. Raising animals for meat or milk also falls under the category of agriculture. If we didn't have agriculture, we'd all be running around the woods, picking berries and trying to shoot things.
Vocabulary lists containing agriculture
The Industrial Revolution - Introductory
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Down on the Farm
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The United States
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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.
The outbreak has hit the agriculture sector hard and some farmers fear it will have a lasting impact.
From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026
While West Texas and Brent futures have both breached $100 and dominated this week’s newsflow, diesel is the energy that fuels shipping, trucking, agriculture, construction and mining.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 11, 2026
The price of diesel, the fuel needed for road hauling and agriculture, has rocketed to a new record in the United States this week.
From Barron's ● Sep. 10, 2026
The extreme heat is causing dwindling snowpack in the state, with far-reaching impacts on agriculture and water supply, not to mention the multi-billion dollar ski industry.
From Salon ● Sep. 5, 2026
Once one band settled down and started tilling, whether in the Middle East or Central America, agriculture was irresistible.
From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari
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.
