agriculture

[ag-ri-kuhl-cher]

noun

1. the science, art, or occupation concerned with cultivating land, raising crops, and feeding, breeding, and raising livestock; farming.

2. the production of crops, livestock, or poultry.

3. agronomy.

agriculture

/ ˈæɡrɪˌkʌltʃə /

noun

1. the science or occupation of cultivating land and rearing crops and livestock; farming; husbandry

agriculture

1. The science of cultivating land, producing crops, and raising livestock.

Other Word Forms

• agricultural adjective
• agriculturally adverb
• preagricultural adjective
• preagriculture noun
• semiagricultural adjective
• unagricultural adjective
• unagriculturally adverb
• agriculturist noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of agriculture¹

First recorded in 1425–75; late Middle English, from Middle French, from Latin agrīcultūra, from agrī (genitive singular of ager “field”) + cultūra culture

Word History and Origins

Origin of agriculture¹

C17: from Latin agricultūra, from ager field, land + cultūra _culture

Example Sentences

Enforcement at the local level is the responsibility of 55 county agricultural commissioners, who are appointed by their boards of supervisors and have a dual role of promoting agriculture and enforcing state pesticide safety laws.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

In California, laborers as young as 12 can legally work in agriculture.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Unusually for a party usually at loggerheads with Swiss agriculture, the left-wing Greens agreed, criticising the prospect of "American beef pumped full of hormones and cut-price chlorinated chicken" appearing on supermarket shelves.

Read more on Barron's

“This was one way of shifting enslaved labor from agriculture to industry, a necessity for the confederacy during the Civil War,” says Lichtenstein.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

This was a direct result of the growth of agriculture and industrialization, and an unprecedented growth—more of an explosion, actually—in the human population.

Read more on Literature

Related Words

• cultivation 
• culture 
• horticulture 
• husbandry