adjective
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owning land
landed gentry
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consisting of or including land
a landed estate
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of landed
before 1000; late Middle English ( see 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.
The airline said the flight landed ahead of schedule despite the incident.
From Salon ● Oct. 12, 2026
“Every team was looking to acquire good players at the deadline,” Arnold said, “and, ultimately, they landed a really good one there in Tarik Skubal.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 10, 2026
Medical Microinstruments, a Jacksonville, Fla.-based robotic microsurgery provider, landed $125 million in Series D funding.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
After a more than 27-hour return journey, the Dragon capsule carrying Crew-12 landed safely in the Pacific Ocean, according to space agency NASA's live broadcast.
From Barron's ● Oct. 8, 2026
For a half second after I opened my eyes, I thought I’d landed back in Ford’s Theatre and this was another Abraham Lincoln assassination simulation.
From "Glitch" by Laura Martin
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.
