pasture
noun
an area covered with grass or other plants used or suitable for the grazing of livestock; grassland.
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pasture
1 American
[pas-cher, pahs-]
/ ˈpæs tʃər, ˈpɑs- /
noun
-
pastures
plural
-
Also called pastureland. an area covered with grass or other plants used or suitable for the grazing of livestock; grassland.
-
a specific area or piece of such ground.
-
grass or other plants for feeding livestock.
verb (used with object)
-
pastures,
present (3rd person singular)
-
pastured,
past participle, past
-
pasturing
present participle
-
to feed (livestock) by putting them out to graze on pasture.
-
(of land) to furnish with pasture.
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(of livestock) to graze upon.
verb (used without object)
-
pastures,
present (3rd person singular)
-
pastured,
past participle, past
-
pasturing
present participle
idioms
Pasture
2
American
[pah-tyr]
/ pɑˈtür /
noun
pasture
British
/ ˈpɑːstʃə /
noun
-
land covered with grass or herbage and grazed by or suitable for grazing by livestock
-
a specific tract of such land
-
the grass or herbage growing on it
verb
pasture
More Idioms
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
pasturesimple
-
pasturessimple
-
have pasturedperfect
-
has pasturedperfect
-
am pasturingprogressive
-
are pasturingprogressive
-
is pasturingprogressive
-
have been pasturingperfect progressive
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has been pasturingperfect progressive
Past
-
pasturedsimple
-
had pasturedperfect
-
was pasturingprogressive
-
were pasturingprogressive
-
had been pasturingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of pasture
1250–1300; Middle English < Middle French < Late Latin pāstūra, equivalent to Latin pāst ( us ), past participle of pāscere to feed, pasture ( cf. pastor) + -ūra -ure
Explanation
If your cattle are feeling hungry, you should let them pasture, or graze, in a grassy field known as a pasture. Pasture is both a noun and a verb associated with grazing animals. As a noun, a pasture is a field where animals such as horses and cattle can graze, or feed. Pasture can also refer to the grasses or other plants that grow in a pasture. As a verb, pasture means "to graze" or "to release animals into a pasture for grazing." You also might hear this word used in the idiom "Put out to pasture," which means "to retire someone," usually because of old age.
Vocabulary lists containing pasture
Chains
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Human Geography - Middle School
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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:
“There’s no paid staff, and we mostly support niche tech projects, like people exploring new ways to preserve trees in Morocco or to regeneratively regrow a pasture in Oregon,” Khosla told me.
From Slate ● Aug. 18, 2026
Now she breeds her own yaks on 120 acres of pasture, foothills and mesa tops high in bucolic Ridgway, about 290 miles west of Denver.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 8, 2026
Out to pasture: Despite a big-name cast, apparently good ratings and an Emmy push, Netflix has canceled the sci-fi thriller “The Boroughs” after one season.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 30, 2026
"This will be our last year," Deliev said, driving his cows to pasture in the Rhodope mountains.
From Barron's ● Jun. 25, 2026
Seven beastly shapes bounded over the fence and into the pasture.
From "The Wild Robot Escapes" by Peter Brown
In late February, stores nationwide began removing signs and artwork that feature phrases like “No Antibiotics Ever,” “Vegetarian Fed,” “Grass Fed Pasture Raised,” “Animal Welfare,” or any mention of “Hormones,” according to the documents.
From Salon ● Mar. 25, 2024
Mr Ford, who runs Nempnett Pasture, got Bear three years ago to guard his turkeys which live outside 24/7.
From BBC ● Dec. 17, 2023
Pasture and range conditions have also seen slight improvements since early May, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service, but soil moisture continues to be low across the state.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 7, 2023
Peaceful and quiet are a pair of words that appear like incantations in the passages of Winter Pasture devoted to her deepest feelings.
From Slate ● Feb. 24, 2021
A hasty supper had been dispatched soon after, and then the Boy Scouts, Mr. Harkness and the cow-punchers had set out for the Far Pasture.
From The Boy Scouts On The Range by Lieut. Howard Payson
But the summer's drought, which affected 95 percent of mainland France in July, has left normally rich pastures dry and bare.
From Barron's ● Aug. 26, 2026
If Lily, Mopple and the rest can set their part of the world right, there’s no reason we can’t find our way to better pastures, too.
From Salon ● May 17, 2026
"Our pastures have been closed off because of an exploratory drilling plan for a gold mine," said Nuriye Dilek, a 48-year-old livestock farmer.
From Barron's ● May 15, 2026
But also someone who could have gone to other pastures as well as Barcelona, alhough when he did, he felt he had left home.
From BBC ● Apr. 29, 2026
Did I break something or leave a gate open to the grazing pastures without realizing it?
From "The Wrong Way Home" by Kate O’Shaughnessy
More recently, Lake, who grows vegetables such as asparagus, tomatoes and zucchini, as well as pastured meat, has been using software and an app from a company called Tend.
From BBC ● Jan. 19, 2026
Cows and sheep should not be allowed to roam over public lands and should be pastured in fenced areas and protected by guard dogs.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 10, 2023
Grass Roots Farmers' Cooperative sells grassfed beef, forested pork and pastured poultry from a network of small farms mostly located in Arkansas and Missouri and owns and operates its own processing.
From Salon ● Aug. 15, 2021
Alexandre Family Farm: This California farm specializes in organic milk and eggs but also sells grass-fed beef and pastured pork.
From Washington Post ● May 23, 2020
All morning, Matilde and I pastured the cows and sheep together, with Cheetah close at my side.
From "The Queen of Water" by Laura Resau
The tradition of alpine pasturing, or “transhumance,” spreads all across the Alps, including Austria, Italy and Germany.
From New York Times ● Jan. 21, 2024
In the past 30 years, swaths of Nicaragua's vast Caribbean forests have been destroyed by settlers clearing land for agriculture, ranchers pasturing cattle, and loggers harvesting precious wood.
From Salon ● Oct. 12, 2020
“We need to witness our own limits transgressed, and some life pasturing freely where we never wander.”
From The New Yorker ● Oct. 19, 2015
“And what is the history? The horse pasturing has been going on for a long time there with no objection.”
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 24, 2015
It’s late Sunday morning, and everyone has gone to Otavalo except me and the other maids, who are pasturing the cows in the valley.
From "The Queen of Water" by Laura Resau
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.
