tractor

American  

[trak-ter] / ˈtræk tər /

noun

• tractors
  plural

1. a powerful motor-driven vehicle with large, heavy treads, used for pulling farm machinery, other vehicles, etc.

2. Also called truck tractor. a short truck with a driver's cab but no body, designed for hauling a trailer or semitrailer.

3. something used for drawing or pulling.

4. Aeronautics.

   1. a propeller mounted at the front of an airplane, thus exerting a pull.

   2. Also called tractor airplane. an airplane with a propeller so mounted.

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tractor British  

/ ˈtræktə /

noun

1. a motor vehicle used to pull heavy loads, esp farm machinery such as a plough or harvester. It usually has two large rear wheels with deeply treaded tyres

2. a short motor vehicle with a powerful engine and a driver's cab, used to pull a trailer, as in an articulated lorry

3. an aircraft with its propeller or propellers mounted in front of the engine

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• tractors
  plural

Etymology

Origin of tractor

1855–60; < Latin trac-, variant stem of trahere to draw, pull + -tor -tor

Explanation

A tractor is a vehicle that's used on a farm or work site, often to pull a trailer or other equipment. A farmer might use a tractor to pull a plow through her corn field before planting. Tractors typically have two large wheels in back, and smaller wheels in front. The cab of a tractor, where the driver sits, is sometimes open at the sides. When tractors were first used in farm work, they replaced horses and other large animals once commonly used to pull plows and move heavy equipment. The original meaning of tractor was "something that pulls," while in Modern Latin it means "that which draws," from trahere, "to pull or draw."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

tractor tractors

A tractor pulling a pesticide sprayer passed by on a street just a few yards away.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2026

Bambi had lost a foot in a tractor accident when she was a child.

From Slate ● Sep. 22, 2026

Several hundred farmers demonstrated this month in the Bolivian city of Cochabamba against diesel costs -- one of them pulling a tractor with a rope.

From Barron's ● Sep. 16, 2026

In 2002, Itay Zar set up camp with his then-pregnant wife in a one-room shack with a dirt floor, two horses and a John Deere tractor.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 6, 2026

He had taken the key because he was afraid I would steal the tractor.

From "Z for Zachariah" by Robert C. O’Brien

This season, Yerxa said he’s paying roughly double for the diesel he uses to power the farm’s tractors, combines, harvesters and dozens of other heavy-duty machines.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 1, 2026

The cameras are mounted atop tractors and they scoop up imagery of the apple trees as the tractor trundles by.

From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2026

Autonomous tractors, which are used to apply pesticides, line a field in Fresno County.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2026

Across the Northern Hemisphere, farmers consume large quantities of diesel during harvest season to power tractors, combines and other machinery, while colder weather later in the year typically boosts demand for heating fuels.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026

Diggers and tractors sit alongside heaps of ripped-up earth and sacks of building materials.

From "Without Refuge" by Jane Mitchell