land
noun
any part of the earth's surface not covered by a body of water; the part of the earth's surface occupied by continents and islands.
land
1 American
[land]
/ lænd /
noun
-
lands
plural
-
any part of the earth's surface not covered by a body of water; the part of the earth's surface occupied by continents and islands.
Land was sighted from the crow's nest.
-
an area of ground with reference to its nature or composition.
arable land.
-
an area of ground with specific boundaries.
to buy land on which to build a house.
-
rural or farming areas, as contrasted with urban areas.
They left the land for the city.
-
Law.
-
any part of the earth's surface that can be owned as property, and everything annexed to it, whether by nature or by the human hand.
-
any legal interest held in land.
-
-
Economics. natural resources as a factor of production.
-
a part of the surface of the earth marked off by natural or political boundaries or the like; a region or country.
They came from many lands.
-
the people of a region or country
-
Audio. the flat surface between the grooves of a phonograph record.
-
a realm or domain.
the land of the living.
-
a surface between furrows, as on a millstone or on the interior of a rifle barrel.
-
Scot. a tenement house.
verb (used with object)
-
lands,
present (3rd person singular)
-
landed,
past participle, past
-
landing
present participle
-
to bring to or set on land.
to land passengers or goods from a ship; to land an airplane.
-
to bring into or cause to arrive in a particular place, position, or condition.
His behavior will land him in jail.
-
Informal. to catch or capture; gain; win.
to land a job.
-
Angling. to bring (a fish) to land, or into a boat, etc., as with a hook or a net.
verb (used without object)
-
lands,
present (3rd person singular)
-
landed,
past participle, past
-
landing
present participle
-
to come to land or shore.
The boat lands at Cherbourg.
-
to go or come ashore from a ship or boat.
-
to alight upon a surface, as the ground, a body of water, or the like.
to land on both feet.
-
to hit or strike the ground, as from a height.
The ball landed at the far side of the court.
-
to strike and come to rest on a surface or in something.
The golf ball landed in the lake.
-
to come to rest or arrive in a particular place, position, or condition (sometimes followed byup ).
to land in trouble; to land up 40 miles from home.
verb phrase
idioms
-
land / fall on one's feet, feet.
-
see how the land lies, to investigate in advance; inform oneself of the facts of a situation before acting.
You should see how the land lies before making a formal proposal.
Land
2
American
[land]
/ lænd /
noun
-land
3
American
land
1
British
/ lænd /
noun
-
the solid part of the surface of the earth as distinct from seas, lakes, etc
-
-
ground, esp with reference to its use, quality, etc
-
( in combination )
land-grabber
-
-
rural or agricultural areas as contrasted with urban ones
-
farming as an occupation or way of life
-
law
-
any tract of ground capable of being owned as property, together with any buildings on it, extending above and below the surface
-
any hereditament, tenement, or other interest; realty
-
-
-
a country, region, or area
-
the people of a country, etc
-
-
a realm, sphere, or domain
-
economics the factor of production consisting of all natural resources
-
the unindented part of a grooved surface, esp one of the ridges inside a rifle bore
-
the prevailing conditions or state of affairs
verb
-
to transfer (something) or go from a ship or boat to the shore
land the cargo
-
(intr) to come to or touch shore
-
to come down or bring (something) down to earth after a flight or jump
-
to come or bring to some point, condition, or state
-
(tr) angling to retrieve (a hooked fish) from the water
-
informal (tr) to win or obtain
to land a job
-
informal (tr) to deliver (a blow)
Land
2
British
/ lant /
noun
Land
3
British
/ lænd /
noun
land
More Idioms
Usage
What does -land mean? The combining form -land is used like a suffix meaning “land.” It is occasionally used in everyday and technical terms. The form -land comes from Old English.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
landsimple
-
landssimple
-
have landedperfect
-
has landedperfect
-
am landingprogressive
-
are landingprogressive
-
is landingprogressive
-
have been landingperfect progressive
-
has been landingperfect progressive
Past
-
landedsimple
-
had landedperfect
-
was landingprogressive
-
were landingprogressive
-
had been landingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of land
First recorded before 900; Middle English, Old English; cognate with Dutch, German, Old Norse, Gothic land; akin to Irish lann “open space,” Welsh llan “church” (originally “enclosure”), Breton lann “heath.” See lawn 1
Explanation
Use the noun land to talk about the solid ground under your feet. It's nice to put your feet on dry land after a long trip in a sailboat. People who are afraid of flying are usually overjoyed to land on the land after hours in the sky — land is also a verb meaning "to settle down on the ground." You can use the word land, as well, to describe a government or ruler's territory: "He rules over the land between those mountains and the rocky coast." The words for land are the same in English, German, and Dutch, as the root is the Germanic landom.
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.
See Examples For:
The length of the totality on land will make next year's eclipse remarkable, says Dr Ed Bloomer, an astronomer at the Royal Observatory Greenwich.
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026
Climate change, land use pressures and drought would all have to be reckoned with.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
"In past centuries, Germany was a land rich in water," he said.
From Barron's ● Aug. 13, 2026
A total solar eclipse means the Moon's disk will completely cover the Sun - and it is expected to last for six minutes and 23 seconds, the longest on land since 1991.
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026
Even the rumbling wheels echo, “Land, land, land.”
From "Will’s Race for Home" by Jewell Parker Rhodes
Land monetization should also support earnings, with recent deals expected to boost 2H profit, she reckons.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
Firms including Texas Pacific Land, LandBridge and EagleRock sit on land empires nestled in the Permian Basin, which spans West Texas and New Mexico.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026
“He’s playing better than most of the professional pianists I’ve worked with,” says Hurwitz, who regularly conducts “La La Land in Concert.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 3, 2026
The BBC contacted members of the Country Land and Business Association, which represents 30,000 rural landowners and businesses in England and Wales, to ask about their experiences with hare coursing.
From BBC ● Jul. 25, 2026
“I know! That big ole underwear looked like the national flag of the Land of Big Behinds flapping in the breeze like that.”
From "Wish" by Barbara O'Connor
"We have large, sizable, fertile -land and good water," says Shihab.
From Time Magazine Archive
Shells, colour of, affected by light. -from Van Diemen's land. -land, extinct, at St. Helena. -particles of, drifted by the wind at St. Helena.
From Volcanic Islands by Charles Darwin
The release lands about 40 years after the New Jersey-raised musician appeared in the music video for the popular song.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026
A few weeks before Robert arrived in Baku, Mr. Brunt relates, the czar had “set more than 3,000 acres of prime oil lands for auction to private speculators.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 9, 2026
Al-Dabba himself lost some 400 hives, which he had kept in agricultural lands east of Gaza City.
From Barron's ● Aug. 7, 2026
The new series lands on Apple TV+ on 5 August.
From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2026
When she’s done, she lands steady on two feet, her arms up and her back arched.
From "Keeping Pace" by Laurie Morrison
After past snubs, social-media site Reddit has landed a spot on the S&P 500, sending shares on an after-hours rally Thursday.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 14, 2026
A little farther north in the Central Valley, Fresno also landed a top-20 spot.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026
After both planes landed in the United Kingdom, Trump was videotaped coming down the steps from the larger jet, before making his way to the new retrofitted Air Force One.
From Barron's ● Aug. 11, 2026
Every state landed in the top third of NOAA’s July temperature records, and Wyoming was hit especially hard, with temperatures 5.1 degrees above average.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026
A pixie landed on my hand and I swatted it away.
From "Rump: The (Fairly) True Story of Rumpelstilskin" by Liesl Shurtliff
Alcott explained that she initially went back to jump again after her difficult landing, out of "embarassment" and "just so I wasn't making a big deal out of it".
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026
His goals are high, and he feels the Buckeyes are the perfect landing place to fulfill his dreams.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
“Our scale is working in our favor and the math gets better from here. Each new deployment is landing against a much larger installed base than it was even one quarter ago,” he said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
He was seen as largely responsible for China's "soft landing" -- reducing inflation without causing a recession -- after it experienced runaway growth following Deng's renewed push to open up in the 1990s.
From Barron's ● Aug. 12, 2026
Irene stood on the landing outside the bathroom, shock scrawled across her face.
From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu
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.
