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 Navigator owns or leases more than 260,000 acres — an area bigger than New York City. Vasco Cotovio, CNN, 8 Oct. 2024 The funding comes three months after the July wildfire destroyed at least 21 homes and burned more than 2,000 acres. Helen Rummel, The Arizona Republic, 5 Oct. 2024 While Northern California was impacted the most, Southern California was hit with the Holy fire in August of that year, burning more than 23,000 acres in Orange and Riverside counties and destroying homes and cabins. Kaitlyn Schallhorn, Orange County Register, 4 Oct. 2024 California saw its fourth largest wildfire with July’s Park fire, which scorched more than 425,000 acres across the Central Valley region. Tribune News Service, The Mercury News, 4 Oct. 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 11 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

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