noun
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an area of grassland, often used for hay or for grazing of animals
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a low-lying piece of grassland, often boggy and near a river
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of meadow
before 1000; Middle English medwe, Old English mǣdw-, oblique stem of mǣd mead 2; akin to German Matte
Explanation
The noun meadow is another word for a hayfield, but offers a much more picturesque view as an open field of lush grass filled with butterflies and birds, with room to run. It can also refer to a piece of land found along a river. The word meadow refers to any grassland or hayfield, often just an expansive area that should be mowed. Indeed, the word comes from the Old English word mæd from the Germanic mædwon the base of which means “mow.” Still, the bucolic feeling is retained, as Dale Carnegie put it: “Let us not get so busy or live so fast that we can't listen to the music of the meadow or the symphony that glorifies the forest."
Vocabulary lists containing meadow
Beowulf vocabulary
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"The Wife of Bath's Tale," Vocabulary from the narrative poem
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List 6
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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:
A sliver of meadow and trees on the edge of Yosemite National Park has become an unlikely battleground over whether development is allowed in national parks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2026
"The project is so massive that it's basically hard to really grasp, even though we're right here on the sidelines," Pitkanen said, as a few cows dozed in a meadow in front of the barn.
From Barron's ● Oct. 4, 2026
The meadow brown took the second spot in Devon, followed by the red admiral.
From BBC ● Sep. 26, 2026
But if you were in that meadow with hundreds of happy people sighing out every “ah-ah” in unison, you would have quickly picked up that refrain and maybe even joined the chorus.
From Salon ● Sep. 13, 2026
Roz scanned the meadow and saw no other wolves.
From "The Wild Robot Escapes" by Peter Brown
Studland Bay has been a designated a Marine Conservation Zone since 2019 and is home to one of the UK's largest seagrass meadows, supporting species such as the protected spiny seahorse and short-snouted seahorse.
From BBC ● Sep. 26, 2026
Agricultural fields and meadows ranked between gardens and lawns.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 28, 2026
Their grazing in the newly-sown meadows would "help create a more varied habitat structure", the estate said.
From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026
"Oil contamination in the Hallaniyat Islands threatens coral reefs, seagrass meadows and coastal habitats that support endangered sea turtles, migratory seabirds and marine mammals," Noelle said.
From Barron's ● Aug. 6, 2026
There were green meadows on either side of the valley, and along the bottom of it there flowed a great brown river.
From "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" by Roald Dahl
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
