arable

[ ar-uh-buhl ]

/ ˈær ə bəl /

Save This Word!

See synonyms for arable on Thesaurus.com

adjective

capable of producing crops; suitable for farming; suited to the plow and for tillage: arable land; arable soil.

noun

land that can be or is cultivated.

QUIZ

QUIZ YOURSELF ON AFFECT VS. EFFECT!

In effect, this quiz will prove whether or not you have the skills to know the difference between “affect” and “effect.”

Question 1 of 7

The rainy weather could not ________ my elated spirits on my graduation day.

affect

effect

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Meet Grammar Coach

Write or paste your essay, email, or story into Grammar Coach and get grammar help

Improve Your Writing

Meet Grammar CoachImprove Your Writing

Origin of arable

1375–1425; <Latin arābilis, equivalent to arā(re) to plow + -bilis-ble; replacing late Middle English erable, equivalent to er(en) to plow (Old English erian) + -able-able

OTHER WORDS FROM arable

ar·a·bil·i·ty, noun

Words nearby arable

arabinoside, arabis, Arab-Israeli conflict, Arabist, Arabize, arable, Arab League, Arab Legion, Arab Spring, Arab street, Araby

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use arable in a sentence

The open data initiative that covered the period between 2018 and 2020, disclosed more forests and arable lands than were previously detected.
Africa’s first digital map of its land reveals a surprising fact about its trees|Seth Onyango|August 10, 2021|Quartz
Yet in Burkina Faso, arable land and their natural water supplies are drying up at a terrifying rate, making it next to impossible for families that have farmed the earth for generations to feed their children.
Angelina Jolie: We Need to Understand the Human Cost of Burkina Faso’s Refugee Crisis|Angelina Jolie|July 8, 2021|Time
We wanted to look for a more sustainable way of farming with the growing city population, and less arable land.
How a parking lot roof was turned into an urban farm in Singapore|Clarisa Diaz|March 31, 2021|Quartz
I wanted to find a more efficient way to use land and resources so that we could let more arable areas remain wild, or to remain lower production but allow for greater biodiversity.
No Trees Harmed: MIT Aims to One Day Grow Your Kitchen Table in a Lab|Jason Dorrier|January 24, 2021|Singularity Hub

This was matched by an increasing ability to redirect water supplies and tap into aquifers, helping turn some arid regions into fertile arable land.
Why people still starve in an age of abundance|Bobbie Johnson|December 17, 2020|MIT Technology Review
Water, food and arable land will be more scarce, cities more crowded and hunger more widespread.
Pope Francis Is Wrong About My Child-Free Life|Amanda Marcotte|June 6, 2014|DAILY BEAST
You will, by accident listening to the show, become an expert-not-really in matters of arable farming, organic crops, and milking.
America, Presenting Your New Addiction: ‘The Archers’|Tim Teeman|April 25, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Extensive tracts of good arable land exist in many parts of the Acadian region.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 5, Slice 2|Various
Chief among the causes of the misery of the peasants was the extent to which arable land was converted into pasture.
The Political History of England - Vol. X.|William Hunt
Reducing more and more that famishing dog-kennel of a Brandenburg into a fruitful arable field.
History Of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Vol. III. (of XXI.)|Thomas Carlyle
The idleness of arable and pasture land is as nothing compared to the idleness of the wide, rolling downs.
The Hills and the Vale|Richard Jefferies
One of these, with the adjacent domain of arable fields and woods, had the name of a villa or manse.
View of the State of Europe during the Middle Ages, Vol. 3 (of 3)|Henry Hallam

British Dictionary definitions for arable

arable

/ (ˈærəbəl) /

adjective

(of land) being or capable of being tilled for the production of crops

of, relating to, or using such landarable farming

noun

arable land or farming

Word Origin for arable

C15: from Latin arābilis that can be ploughed, from arāre to plough

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

arable

Origin of arable

OTHER WORDS FROM arable

Words nearby arable

Words related to arable

How to use arable in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for arable

Word Origin for arable