adjective
-
owning land
landed gentry
-
consisting of or including land
a landed estate
Other Word Forms
- unlanded adjective
Etymology
Origin of landed
before 1000; late Middle English ( land, -ed 3 ); replacing Old English gelandod (rare), past participle of *landian to endow with land ( -ed 2 )
Explanation
If someone is landed, it means they own property or acreage, and they probably inherited it. In 17th and 18th century England, owners of country estates were known as the landed gentry. This adjective almost always comes before "gentry" or "aristocracy," referring to an entire category of wealthy people. It's a bit old-fashioned, but you can still call use it for upper-class land owners. Your cousin, lucky enough to have the family estate handed down to him, is a member of the landed gentry. Landed can also describe the land itself, when someone inherits it: "The landed property was about fifty acres."
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.
He landed in Chicago in his late 20s, working as a Spanish translator.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 12, 2026
After a lengthy attempt to make it in the theater in Chicago, he gave up and landed at Starbucks.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 12, 2026
He and John Young landed on the moon in 1972 in a lunar module that was known as Orion.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 11, 2026
After winning his first National with Hedgehunter in 2005, Mullins had to be patient for 19 years until I Am Maximus landed the first of his two victories in 2024.
From BBC • Apr. 11, 2026
“I had expected a cold-water shock,” Venus said, remembering when she first landed in the river, “but it was warm like bathwater, perhaps 80°F.”
From "Mountain of Fire" by Rebecca E. F. Barone
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.
