1
a
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

Examples of acre in a Sentence

The house sits on two acres of land. They own hundreds of acres of farmland.
Recent Examples on the Web The results to date, on 2,200 acres of vineyards, show that the SmartApply® Intelligent Spray Control System used 30% less spray than is normally used. Liz Thach, Forbes, 26 Sep. 2024 Barolo isn’t the only red grape that Piedmont is known for; Barbera thrives on more than 70,000 acres throughout the region, where it has been cultivated for hundreds of years. Mike Desimone and Jeff Jenssen, Robb Report, 26 Sep. 2024 Local referendums: City of Miami and Miami Beach Miami voters will decide on four referendums, including whether the city should sell 5.4 acres of public land on the north side of Watson Island for $135 million to build a residential and commercial project. Martin Vassolo, Axios, 25 Sep. 2024 The Plenty Richmond Farm is designed to produce more than four million pounds (1.8M kg) of strawberries grown indoors vertically in 30-ft-tall (9-m) towers, using up less than 40,000 square feet – or less than a single acre. New Atlas, 25 Sep. 2024 See all Example Sentences for acre 

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'acre.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

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 ájrah

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.

First Known Use

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

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

Dictionary Entries Near acre

Cite this Entry

“Acre.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/acre. Accessed 6 Oct. 2024.

Kids Definition

acre

noun
1
plural : property consisting of land : estate
2
: a unit of area equal to 43,560 square feet (about 4047 square meters) see measure
Etymology

Old English æcer "field, cultivated land"

Geographical Definition

Acre 1 of 2

geographical name (1)

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

2 of 2

geographical name (2)

variants or Hebrew ʽAkko or Old Testament Accho
ˈä-kō How to pronounce Acre (audio)
ˈā-
or New Testament Ptolemaïs
city and port at the head of a bay on the Mediterranean Sea north of Mount Carmel in northwestern Israel population 37,400

More from Merriam-Webster on acre

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!