acre

noun

\ ˈā-kər

How to pronounce acre (audio)

\

Definition of acre

(Entry 1 of 3)

1a archaic : a field especially of arable land or pastureland

b acres plural : lands, estate

2 : any of various units of area specifically : a unit in the U.S. and England equal to 43,560 square feet (4047 square meters) — see Weights and Measures Table

3 : a broad expanse or great quantity acres of free publicity

Acre

geographical name (1)

\ ˈä-krē

How to pronounce Acre (audio)

, -(ˌ)krā

How to pronounce Acre (audio)

\

Definition of Acre (Entry 2 of 3)

state in western Brazil bordering on Peru and Bolivia; capital Rio Branco area 59,343 square miles (153,698 square kilometers), population 733,559

Acre

geographical name (2)

\ ˈä-kər

How to pronounce Acre (audio)

, ˈā-kər, ˈä-krə

How to pronounce Acre (audio)

\

variants: or Hebrew ʽAkko or Old Testament Accho \ ˈä-kō

How to pronounce Accho (audio)

, ˈā- \ or New Testament Ptolemaïs \ ˌtä-lə-ˈmā-əs

How to pronounce Ptolemaïs (audio)

\

Definition of Acre (Entry 3 of 3)

city and port at the head of a bay on the Mediterranean Sea north of Mount Carmel in northwestern Israel population 37,400

Examples of acre in a Sentence

Noun

The house sits on two acres of land. They own hundreds of acres of farmland.

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun

Commercial, industrial and residential properties with more than three units will pay $141.12 per acre, up from $120.96. — Susannah Bryan, sun-sentinel.com, "Fort Lauderdale homeowners to pay higher tax bills, fire fee and water rates," 17 Sep. 2019 Fires — both wild and those set by Native Americans — helped preserve the landscape, which the DNR defines as having more than one tree per acre but less than 50% tree canopy coverage. — Chelsey Lewis, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Wisconsin's biggest bur oak is more than 300 years old, and you can only see it during a special event in October," 12 Sep. 2019 The estimated cost of grafting vines onto phylloxera-resistant rootstock, according to Naravane, is approximately $8,000 to $10,000 per acre. — Michael Alberty | For The Oregonian/oregonlive, oregonlive, "Walla Walla vineyards face threat of phylloxera, insect that ruins grapevine production," 4 Sep. 2019 Take out inflation and the tax falls to $247 per acre — a 50% reduction. — Grover Norquist, The Denver Post, "Grover Norquist: Trump should index capital gains to spare millions of Americans from paying taxes on inflation," 27 Aug. 2019 Wild blueberries yield only two tons per acre, compared with 10 to 15 tons for hybrid blueberries grown in other parts of the world. — Fortune, "How Fruit Wines Are Becoming Serious Business," 17 Aug. 2019 Eco-Goats charges $2,500 to $3,000 per acre plus expenses. — Rachel Manteuffel, Washington Post, "Using goats to clear land is ‘way more labor-intensive than anyone can imagine’," 13 Aug. 2019 The concentration of trees per acre is 10 times the rate in the village. — AZCentral.com, "Amid winding mountain roads, a village pushes back its encroaching fire threat," 23 July 2019 The tracts sold for an average of $5,804 per acre, up 5.1 percent for the year. — Katherine Feser, Houston Chronicle, "Report: Small land sales along Gulf Coast commanding higher prices," 9 July 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'acre.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

History and Etymology for acre

Noun

Middle English aker, acre, going back to Old English æcer, going back to Germanic *akraz (whence also, with k geminate in West Germanic, Old Saxon akkar "field," Old High German ackar, Old Norse akr "arable land," Gothic akrs "field"), going back to Indo-European *h₂eǵros, whence also Latin ager, "piece of land, field," Greek agrós, Sanskrit ájraḥ,

Note: This Indo-European noun is traditionally linked to the verbal base *h₂eǵ- "drive (cattle, etc.)" (see agent, on the assumption that *h₂eǵ-ros originally meant "pasture," "fallow land," onto which the cattle were driven, and later developed other senses, as "cultivated field." The semantic plausibility of such a derivation has recently been questioned, however.

Keep scrolling for more

Learn More about acre

Dictionary Entries near acre

Statistics for acre

Last Updated

7 Oct 2019

Look-up Popularity

Time Traveler for acre

The first known use of acre was before the 12th century

See more words from the same century

Keep scrolling for more

More Definitions for acre

acre

noun

English Language Learners Definition of acre

: a measure of land area in the U.S. and Britain that equals 4,840 square yards (about 4,047 square meters)

See the full definition for acre in the English Language Learners Dictionary

acre

noun

\ ˈā-kər

\

Kids Definition of acre

: a measure of land area equal to 43,560 square feet (about 4047 square meters)

Keep scrolling for more

WORD OF THE DAY

exoteric

suitable to be imparted to the public

Test Your Vocabulary

Where in the World? A Quiz

What language does pajama come from?

Name That Thing

Test your visual vocabulary with our 10-question challenge!

TAKE THE QUIZ

SCRABBLE® Sprint

Test Your Knowledge - and learn some interesting things along the way.

TAKE THE QUIZ