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.
-
(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
-
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:
The government has put the dearth of milk in recent months down to drought, which has significantly reduced pasture and hampered production.
From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026
“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
Rural communities emptied as young people went to work in cities, allowing brush to cover swaths of former pasture.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026
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 turned her back out to pasture, closed the barn door, put the top on my can and walked back to the store, through for the day.
From "Z for Zachariah" by Robert C. O’Brien
According to Aimee Picchi of CBS News, “The Kirkland Signature Organic Pasture Raised 24-Count Eggs were sold at 25 Costco locations across several states.”
From Salon ● Dec. 3, 2024
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
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 rode on down the hill, with only a quick and embarrassed glance into the Forbidden Pasture; and suddenly raised herself excitedly in the stirrups.
From The Heart of Thunder Mountain by Anton Otto Fischer
So Verstappen is earning a bit more money but, if Red Bull are still struggling for competitiveness next year, there will remain the prospect he could look for pastures new.
From BBC ● Sep. 9, 2026
The ranchers depend on snowmelt that feeds the Colorado River and its tributaries to nourish grasses and hay pastures for their herds.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 5, 2026
But that focus on greener pastures is as persistent as the apparent blood feud between Texas and Tennessee.
From Salon ● Aug. 3, 2026
He also feuded with bandmates who tried to steer the Bayou Boys into more commercial country-and-western pastures.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026
And then they passed the Penitentiary and were soaring over open fields—cow pastures, Magdalys now realized.
From "Dactyl Hill Squad" by Daniel José Older
Makers of Abondance cheese in the Alps, for example, will be authorised to reduce the amount of pastured grass in their animals' diet from 50% to 15%.
From BBC ● Aug. 27, 2026
The day includes a tour of the farm and a discussion of raising pastured pigs; butchering a whole hog and talking about various muscles and cooking applications; and making fresh sausage to take home.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 13, 2022
Shopping for 100% grassfed beef or pastured chicken used to mean seeking out a specialty butcher shop, visiting a farmers' market, or going straight to the source by stopping by a local farm.
From Salon ● Aug. 15, 2021
Last year, $14-per-pound exotic mushrooms, $20 pastured chickens and $50 bottles of olive oil were not uncommon purchases.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 4, 2019
Zoyla and Gregoria and I used to play market together while we pastured the animals.
From "The Queen of Water" by Laura Resau
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.
