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
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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:
The residents may have plenty of complaints about being sent out to pasture when they’re still dreaming of the spotlight.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
“I love working with animals,” she said, plodding down a gravel road toward a clover-carpeted pasture.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026
Out to pasture: The Cold War spy thriller “Ponies” has been canceled after just 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
For the next hour, Ben helped Toomer feed the dogs, put the mule to pasture, and unload the wagon.
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
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
Amber Deakin was a passenger in a silver Vauxhall Vectra when it crashed on Baildon Road, near Pasture Road, in Bradford at about 23:45 GMT on Tuesday.
From BBC ● Jan. 6, 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
She says the federal Pasture, Rangeland, Forage insurance program doesn’t accept data from weather stations closer to her.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 5, 2018
Pasture and forage amply suffice for the raising of large flocks and herds.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 8, Slice 6 "Dodwell" to "Drama" by Various
But that focus on greener pastures is as persistent as the apparent blood feud between Texas and Tennessee.
From Salon ● Aug. 3, 2026
The number of cattle on U.S. pastures has fallen to its lowest level in 75 years, after ranchers struggled with years of rising costs and drought.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 7, 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
But narrowed spreads and dividend cuts may be reason enough for some investors to seek greener pastures.
From Barron's ● Apr. 24, 2026
He knew all the fields and pastures of Andalusia.
From "The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho
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
And while players won’t get free laundry and dry cleaning, or a menu containing pastured eggs and wild-caught seafood in player dining, they at least get access to cold plunges and courtesy cars.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 28, 2023
When pastured animals graze in areas that are dry or in drought, the pastures are often irrigated or the animals are given feed.
From Salon ● Aug. 24, 2022
One study suggests that pastured hens deposit more lutein and zeaxanthin into their egg yolks.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 20, 2019
White ranchers pastured cattle there, especially during the dry years when no grass grew below the mountain.
From "Ceremony:" by Leslie Marmon Silko
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
The horse in question, Raisa, might have expected a quiet pasturing after a working life carrying members of the Metropolitan Police Service.
From Time ● Mar. 28, 2012
After breakfast, I’m in the valley pasturing sheep under a sky the dull gray of cow intestines, when Hermelinda appears on the hill.
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.
