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• acre
  acre

  noun

  a common measure of area: in the U.S. and U.K., 1 acre equals 4,840 square yards (4,047 square meters) or 0.405 hectare; 640 acres equals one square mile.
• Acre
  Acre

  noun

  a state in W Brazil. 58,900 sq. mi. (152,550 sq. km). Rio Branco.

acre

¹ American  

[ey-ker] / ˈeɪ kər /

noun

• acres
  plural

1. a common measure of area: in the U.S. and U.K., 1 acre equals 4,840 square yards (4,047 square meters) or 0.405 hectare; 640 acres equals one square mile.

2. acres,

   1. lands; land.

      wooded acres.

   2. Informal. large quantities.

      acres of Oriental rugs.

3. Archaic. a plowed or sown field.

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idioms

1. forty acres and a mule. mule.

Acre ² American  

[ah-kruh, ah-ker, ey-ker] / ˈɑ krə, ˈɑ kər, ˈeɪ kər /

noun

1. a state in W Brazil. 58,900 sq. mi. (152,550 sq. km). Rio Branco.

2. a seaport in NW Israel: besieged and captured by Crusaders 1191.

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Acre ¹ British  

noun

1. a state of W Brazil: mostly unexplored tropical forests; acquired from Bolivia in 1903. Capital: Rio Branco. Pop: 586 942 (2002). Area: 152 589 sq km (58 899 sq miles)

2. Arabic name: `Akka. Hebrew name: `Akko. Old Testament name: Accho. a city and port in N Israel, strategically situated on the Bay of Acre in the E Mediterranean: taken and retaken during the Crusades (1104, 1187, 1191, 1291), taken by the Turks (1517), by Egypt (1832), and by the Turks again (1839). Pop: 45 600 (2001)

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acre ² British  

/ ˈeɪkə /

noun

1. a unit of area used in certain English-speaking countries, equal to 4840 square yards or 4046.86 square metres

2. (plural)

   1. land, esp a large area

   2. informal a large amount

      he has acres of space in his room

3. to graze cows on the verge of a road

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acre Scientific  

/ ā′kər /

1. A unit of area in the US Customary System, used in land and sea floor measurement and equal to 43,560 square feet or 4,047 square meters.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• half-acre
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• acres
  plural

Etymology

Origin of acre

First recorded before 1000; Middle English aker, Old English æcer; cognate with Old Frisian ekker, Old Saxon akkar, Old High German ackar ( German Acker ), Old Norse akr, Gothic akers, Latin ager, Greek agrós, Sanskrit ájra-; see also acorn, agrarian, agrestic, agriculture, agro-

Explanation

An acre is a unit for measuring area, especially larger areas like farms. An acre is 4840 square yards. It's pretty easy to imagine a square yard: three feet by three feet. Now imagine 4840 of them and you've got an acre. That's a pretty large chunk of land, and acres are used for measuring big areas in some English-speaking countries. Large areas such as farms, forests, and golf courses are likely to be measured in acres. Farms in particular need many acres to grow crops and give the animals space to live.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

acre Acre acres

From Huddleston’s nearby piece of property, it sought 71 at $60,000 per acre.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026

Projected yield for this year was reduced to 52.7 bushels an acre from 53 bushels an acre forecast last month.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026

The lab sat on an acre of land in a forest that straddles the border of Abidagba and Iroto villages.

From Barron's ● Jul. 29, 2026

There were also two fires in San Luis Obispo County — the 10 acre Twitchel fire and a 543 acre fire at a solar ranch, which was 80% contained by the end of the day.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026

In 1870, the Osage—expelled from their lodges, their graves plundered—agreed to sell their Kansas lands to settlers for $1.25 an acre.

From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann

Museums are also open public spaces that have less access control and perpetrators can come in as visitors, says Kumar Sokka, CEO of Acre Security which works with some museums in Europe.

From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026

One such island in Wisconsin's Lake Chippewa is known as the Forty Acre Bog.

From BBC ● Sep. 1, 2026

He was carried over as a worker from Kelly Fleming Wines, which owned the vineyard property at 2339 Pickett Road before Hundred Acre acquired it in 2024, Singer said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 29, 2026

Shepard brought the light touch of Punch magazine to creation of the Hundred Acre Wood.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 9, 2026

The long-lasting, crowded populations suggested in Acre are exactly the sort that archaeologists long thought were ecologically impossible.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann

Mosey, a 500-megawatt solar farm accompanied by battery storage, is projected to cost $1.7 billion and cover about 3,565 acres of public land.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 27, 2026

The Department of Water Resources has a program that has provided funding for local agencies to buy dozens of pumps, build 12 water-catching basins and clear 600 acres of land for more basins.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 26, 2026

Then in 2001 Cargil signed a deal to lease 600 acres of his land, about a quarter of the total, to a company called OCI Energy which built a vast solar farm.

From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026

The home sits on over 3 acres and includes hiking trails, a guesthouse, and a pool.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 23, 2026

But my heart is already promised—to this 320 acres of mine.

From "Hattie Big Sky" by Kirby Larson

Related Words

• acreage
• estate
• plot
• property