a large farm or estate in a tropical or semitropical zone, for the cultivation of cotton, tobacco, coffee, sugarcane, etc., typically by enslaved, unpaid, or low-wage resident laborers.
a group of planted trees or plants.
History/Historical.
a colony or new settlement.
the establishment of a colony or new settlement.
Archaic. the planting of seeds, young trees, etc.
an estate, esp in tropical countries, where cash crops such as rubber, oil palm, etc, are grown on a large scale
a group of cultivated trees or plants
(formerly) a colony or group of settlers
rare the planting of seeds, shoots, etc
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English plantacioune, from Latin plantātiōn- (stem of plantātiō ) “a planting”; see plant (verb), -ation
A plantation is a large agricultural property dedicated to planting a few crops on a large scale. If you dream of having 3,000 acres to raise cucumbers on, then you have dreams of a cucumber plantation. Plantation doesn't have to only mean massive single-product farms. A small grove of trees is also called a plantation, but usually when we use the word we mean the big farms. In the United States prior to the Civil War, crops like cotton and tobacco were grown on plantations in the South by exploiting the labor of enslaved people. In Latin America, many international companies own banana and coffee plantations.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
He put some of the first conservation easements in the country on Hope Plantation and St. Phillips Island, according to “Last Stand.”
From The Wall Street Journal • May 8, 2026
Though Coe failed to shake up country music at that time, he would still release singles under Singleton’s Nashville-based record company, Plantation Records.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 30, 2026
Matthew Saneholtz, chief investment officer and senior wealth adviser at Tobias Financial Advisors in Plantation, Fla., told MarketWatch.
From MarketWatch • Nov. 6, 2025
Morris, Pusser visited a saloon called the Plantation Club, run at the time by W.O.
From Slate • Nov. 6, 2025
Plantation owners were suddenly destitute, and state governments, shackled by war debt, were penniless.
From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander
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.
