ranch
Americannoun
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ranches
plural
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an establishment maintained for raising livestock under range conditions.
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Chiefly Western U.S. and Canada. a large farm used primarily to raise one kind of crop or animal.
a mink ranch.
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a dude ranch.
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the persons employed or living on a ranch.
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I’ll have the small salad, with ranch on the side.
verb (used without object)
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ranches,
present (3rd person singular)
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ranched,
past participle, past
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ranching
present participle
noun
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a large tract of land, esp one in North America, together with the necessary personnel, buildings, and equipment, for rearing livestock, esp cattle
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-
any large farm for the rearing of a particular kind of livestock or crop
a mink ranch
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the buildings, land, etc, connected with it
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verb
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(intr) to manage or run a ranch
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(tr) to raise (animals) on or as if on a ranch
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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ranchsimple
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ranchessimple
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have ranchedperfect
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has ranchedperfect
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am ranchingprogressive
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are ranchingprogressive
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is ranchingprogressive
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have been ranchingperfect progressive
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has been ranchingperfect progressive
Past
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ranchedsimple
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had ranchedperfect
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was ranchingprogressive
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were ranchingprogressive
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had been ranchingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of ranch
An Americanism dating from 1800–10; from Spanish rancho “farm, cattle farm, ranch”; see origin at rancho
Explanation
A ranch is a large farm that raises animals, generally grazing animals like cows or sheep. If you dream of raising big, strange-looking birds, you could decide to have an emu or an ostrich ranch instead. Ranches raise animals for meat, and in the case of sheep or alpacas, for wool. When you work on a ranch, you can say that you ranch. A ranch is also a type of single-story, simple house architecturally influenced by the western, informal style of working ranches, which first appeared in the 1950s in the Western US. Ranch comes from the Spanish rancho, first "group of people who eat together" and later "group of farm huts."
Vocabulary lists containing ranch
Australia and New Zealand - Introductory
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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:
Calves still need to be bought and sold, and ranch operations - many multi-generational - don not pause for politics.
From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2026
George W. Bush spent as much time as possible at the West Texas ranch he bought just before assuming the presidency.
From Salon ● Oct. 10, 2026
Animal services officials said the bird was moved to a private ranch in Northern California on Tuesday.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2026
He lost an estimated 3 million to 4 million trees at his ranch near his hometown of Canadian, in what became known as the Smokehouse Creek Fire.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026
Him and the other fellow I could see riding east, but they’d need an army of fence spotters to patrol even one ranch.
From "Worth" by A. LaFaye
Today, about 80% of America’s roughly quarter-million bison live on private ranches.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
Ken Boulay, the CEO of the Turtle Island Restoration Network, said it’s time to move forward and imagine what the park could be like without cattle and private ranches.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026
These ranches once supported families, small towns, local stores and restaurants, feed suppliers, truckers, veterinarians, and entire rural communities.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 30, 2026
The Sullivan Canyon home was inspired by the architecture of classic California ranches including San Ysidro Ranch, where John F. Kennedy and Jackie Kennedy honeymooned.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 15, 2026
In 1928 a group of thirty or so Native American Indians had been living on one of the large ranches below the St. Francis Dam.
From "100 Sideways Miles" by Andrew Smith
And now that anything can be ranched, everything is getting ranched.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026
In the 1880s, Theodore Roosevelt hunted and ranched as a young man in the Badlands of what is now western North Dakota.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 25, 2023
These ancient wetlands had been plundered for timber, then ranched, and finally acquired by the state in the 1970s to nurture back to life.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 20, 2021
When Letseoma was growing up in this house, her father had farmed and ranched and had owned horses, cattle, sheep, and chickens.
From Slate ● Jan. 29, 2021
As Grandpa got older he ranched less and farmed more, until one day he stopped farming.
From "Educated" by Tara Westover
Others at the town hall, however, expressed fury that the two remaining ranching families were now trying to upend the deal.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026
The show depicts the power struggles between patriarch John Dutton III, his children, the locals, and the outsiders seeking to change their bucolic ranching way of life.
From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2026
The practice of ranching can be traced back about 75 years to the man who had a brilliant idea to combine mayonnaise, buttermilk, herbs and spices.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026
The U.S. urgently needs a cattle policy worthy of its ranching tradition.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 30, 2026
“In the fifties, when my father was ranching, it was two or three years old. Now we get there at fourteen to sixteen months.”
From "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan
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