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

"An AI-assisted camera can distinguish with almost total certainty between smoke and dust thrown up by a tractor in a field, for example."

From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2026

“Now I find myself back in that life. I drive a tractor and all those things. It’s the best chance at a normal life.”

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 3, 2026

It takes up one-third of a 53-foot tractor trailer—one of 17 trailers “Phantom” travels with, and the team anticipates about 38 hours to load into a venue.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026

Not every death involving ICE is a shooting, either; according to the Miami Herald, a man fleeing immigration agents was accidentally hit and killed by a tractor trailer in St. Augustine, Florida, this morning.

From Slate ● Jul. 14, 2026

I was thinking about the padlocks without any keys and the tractor without any key.

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

Lower market prices for farm commodities and higher costs for fuel and fertilizer have eroded farmers’ incomes, causing them to refrain from buying new tractors, harvesters and other equipment.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026

The Northern Hemisphere is entering harvest season, when farmers consume large quantities of diesel to run tractors and other machinery.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026

Local farmers have also poured in to help battle the blaze, with a ballet of tractors pulling in tankers of water drawn from a nearby lake.

From Barron's ● Aug. 17, 2026

Military helicopters backed by tractors on the ground hauled water Sunday to help firefighters tame Belgium's largest modern-day wildfire, which mushroomed in size since breaking out two days earlier in a hard-to-access nature reserve.

From Barron's ● Aug. 16, 2026

Cargo ships sailed from Soviet ports, their decks crowded with tractors and other farming machines.

From "Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown" by Steve Sheinkin