sharecropper

noun

share·​crop·​per ˈsher-ˌkrä-pər 

: a tenant farmer especially in the southern U.S. who is provided with credit for seed, tools, living quarters, and food, who works the land, and who receives an agreed share of the value of the crop minus charges

Examples of sharecropper in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Born to sharecroppers in South Carolina and raised in Harlem, New York, Gibson lived in a world far from white country clubs or Black luxury. — Sophia Zhang, Encyclopedia Britannica, 30 June 2026

Joe Louis, a sharecropper’s grandson, dropped Schmeling to the canvas and carried a whole race in a nation that had not yet decided to honor it. — Anthony Scaramucci, Fortune, 28 June 2026

All my grandparents were sharecroppers in Mississippi before migrating to Gary in the late 1920s. — Lori Latham, Chicago Tribune, 16 June 2026

The patron saint of the 2024 Democratic National Convention was Fannie Lou Hamer—recalcitrant sharecropper turned agitator and, like the Democratic presidential nominee, a black woman. — Ta-Nehisi Coates, Vanity Fair, 15 June 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1871, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for sharecropper

• chopper
• copper
• cropper
• dropper
• pauper
• popper
• proper
• shopper
• stopper
• topper
• whopper
• eavesdropper

Kids Definition

sharecropper

noun

share·​crop·​per ˈshe(ə)r-ˌkräp-ər 

ˈsha(ə)r-

: a farmer who works land for the owner in return for a share of the value of the crop