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

Won, the sales consultant, sometimes listens to a work-related podcast while riding his lawn tractor.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026

Habiba dreams of having a tractor, but it is too expensive; there is only one in the village that a family rents out to those who can afford it.

From Barron's ● Jul. 1, 2026

Lucy Matthews drives a 1994 Jeep Wrangler that doesn’t have air conditioning, roars as loud as a tractor and absolutely guzzles gasoline.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 29, 2026

At first, I could see just one small tractor on the street.

From BBC ● Jun. 28, 2026

I do not know why, but I know what he has been doing, because every morning I can hear the tractor engine starting, and it continues, sometimes loud, sometimes quiet until midafternoon.

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

Farmers in tractors tugged water cisterns and aimed hoses at the blaze.

From Barron's ● Jul. 13, 2026

They were supposed to use cameras and sensors to collect data, learn what works best and then share that learning online with thousands of other high-tech tractors.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 15, 2026

Meanwhile, Monarch hit a wall when its manufacturer — the same company that makes most iPhones — had to stop making the tractors.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 15, 2026

The Sheas, who met at USC Film School, talk to a demographically wide variety of locals in Three Oaks, a farm town where tractors and horses are points of pride.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 11, 2026

By that year, which was 1923, a few farmers had tractors, butPa said the problem with machines was when you said whoa, they kept on going.

From "The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs" by Betty G. Birney