agriculture

ag·ri·cul·ture

noun \ˈa-gri-ˌkəl-chər\

Definition of AGRICULTURE

: the science, art, or practice of cultivating the soil, producing crops, and raising livestock and in varying degrees the preparation and marketing of the resulting products

— ag·ri·cul·tur·ist \ˌa-gri-ˈkəl-ch(ə-)rist\ or ag·ri·cul·tur·al·ist \-ch(ə-)rə-list\ noun

Examples of AGRICULTURE

1. They cleared the land to use it for agriculture.
2. <the forest was cut down, and the land given over to agriculture>

Origin of AGRICULTURE

Middle English, from Middle French, from Latin agricultura, from ager field + cultura cultivation — more at acre, culture

First Known Use: 15th century

Related to AGRICULTURE

Synonyms

farming, husbandry

Related Words

cultivation, culture, farmwork, gardening, horticulture, tillage; agribusiness, agroecology, agronomy; agroforestry, arboriculture, pomology; aquaculture (also aquiculture), hydroponics; animal husbandry, mixed farming, monoculture, pastoralism; sharecropping

Other Agriculture/Gardening Terms

fallow, graft, heirloom, loam, potash, soilage, swath, tilth, windfall

Rhymes with AGRICULTURE

apiculture, aquaculture, aviculture, counterculture, floriculture, horticulture, mariculture, microculture, monoculture, permaculture, silviculture, turkey vulture, viniculture

agriculture

noun    (Concise Encyclopedia)

The active production of useful plants or animals in ecosystems that have been created by people. Agriculture may include cultivating the soil, growing and harvesting crops, and raising livestock. Agriculture was independently developed in many places, including the Middle East, East Asia, South Asia, and the Americas. The earliest evidence for agriculture has been found in the Middle East and dates to between 14,500 and 12,000 BP. Early cultivars include wild barley (Middle East), millet (China), and squash (the Americas). The domestication of many animals now considered to be livestock occurred during roughly the same period, although dogs were domesticated considerably earlier. Slash-and-burn land-clearing methods and crop rotation were early agricultural techniques. Steady improvements in tools and methods over the centuries increased agricultural output, as did mechanization, selective breeding and hybridization, and, beginning in the 20th century, the use of herbicides and insecticides.