latifundium

[lat-uh-fuhn-dee-uhm]

noun

Roman History.

plural

latifundia 

1. a great estate.

latifundium

/ ˌlætɪˈfʌndɪəm /

noun

1. a large agricultural estate, esp one worked by slaves in ancient Rome

Word History and Origins

Origin of latifundium¹

1620–30; < Latin, equivalent to lāt ( us ) wide, broad + -i- -i- + fund ( us ) a piece of land, farm, estate + -ium -ium

Word History and Origins

Origin of latifundium¹

C17: from Latin lātus broad + fundus farm, estate

Example Sentences

But clearly the long tradition of latifundia — injustice favoring the landed elites and police — leaves people without a hope of getting a better life.

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Natural conditions mark out Ireland as a pastoral and cattle-breeding country; and such a country is the destined home of latifundia.

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The situation is scarcely better in parts of the country which are free from latifundia.

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What were really “latifundia” were created, “great landes,” “enclosures of a mile or two or thereabouts ... destroying thereby not only the farms and cottages within the same circuits, but also the towns and villages adjoining.”

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Partly a cause and partly a result of the spread of the latifundia was the decline of the free Italian peasantry.

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