Synonyms

tenant farmer

American

noun

a person who farms the land of another and pays rent with cash or with a portion of the produce.

tenant farmer British

noun

a person who farms land rented from another, the rent usually taking the form of part of the crops grown or livestock reared

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of tenant farmer

First recorded in 1855–60

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:

tenant farmer

Watching the harvest, tenant farmer Mohamed Ragab, 40, doubts it will bring profit.

From Barron's ● May 15, 2026

"He was a tenant farmer and farmed lands both here and in Charlton Mackrell. There would have been more important people than him in Barton."

From BBC ● Jan. 19, 2025

The son of a tenant farmer, Walker and his family worried that an injury in his senior year could jeopardize his professional career and the millions of dollars awaiting him there.

From Slate ● Nov. 6, 2022

Mahmad Ewaz, 28, a former tenant farmer and father of four who fled fighting in Helmand province two years ago, listened to his 1-year-old daughter coughing and contemplated a single log resting in the corner.

From Washington Post ● Jan. 8, 2022

The first was a tenant farmer who worked for Lester McCoy, a well-known western-Kansas landowner and businessman.

From "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023