Astroturf

American  

[as-truh-turf] / ˈæs trəˌtɜrf /

Trademark.

1. a brand of carpetlike covering made of vinyl and nylon to resemble turf, used for athletic fields, patios, etc.

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Astroturf British  

/ ˈæstrəʊˌtɜːf /

noun

1. a type of grasslike artificial surface used for playing fields and lawns

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Usage

What does Astroturf mean? Astroturf is a trademarked brand name for a type of artificial surface used for sports fields that’s supposed to look and feel like grass. When used this way, it’s often capitalized. The brand itself styles it as AstroTurf. This sense of the word has come to be frequently used as a generic term for any artificial turf (in the same way that other brand names have been genericized, such as xerox). When used this way, it’s often seen in lowercase (astroturf). Astroturf is also a slang term meaning to fake the appearance of popular support for something, such as a cause or product. The practice of doing so is called astroturfing and a person who does this can be called an astroturfer. Example: One clue that people are trying to astroturf support for something is that a lot of posts about the topic come from new accounts with usernames that look like they were randomly generated.

Etymology

Origin of Astroturf

C20: from Astro(dome) , the baseball stadium in Texas where it was first used + _turf

Example Sentences

Appeared in the March 27, 2026, print edition as 'The Astroturf Podcasts'.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 26, 2026

"We've played sub-regionals not that long ago, on Astroturf wickets in Rome," he told AFP.

From Barron's • Feb. 17, 2026

Socially distant groupings of white director’s chairs situated on an Astroturf floor in front of two colossal TV screens set side by side.

From New York Times • Aug. 19, 2021

Any game that was on Astroturf, Steve went out, picked out his own dirt, and gave it to me.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 19, 2019

Cade spit a brown blob onto the padded Astroturf mat at his feet.

From "100 Sideways Miles" by Andrew Smith