acre

noun \ ˈā-kər \

|Updated on: 11 Aug 2018

Definition of acre

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

See acre defined for English-language learners

See acre defined for kids

Examples of acre in a Sentence

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

Recent Examples of acre from the Web

Amazon's $250 million Kenosha distribution center along I-94 features two buildings totaling 1.5 million square feet on 165 acres.

— tom daykin, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Amazon considering a large Oak Creek distribution center, with over 1,000 full-time jobs," 10 July 2018
Catalpa Farms is a sustainable development on more than 200 acres of land.

— for lg&e ku, The Courier-Journal, "Be Ready for Big Wows and Amazing Innovations at this Year’s Homearama," 10 July 2018
The new airport, built partly with federal funds, started out with three hangars and three runways on 1,200 acres, handling six flights a day.

— paula allen, San Antonio Express-News, "Experts weigh in on reader's midcentury San Antonio airport photo," 7 July 2018
There’s plenty do do on the more than 800 acres of property that borders Rocky Mountain National Park, including hiking, fat tire biking, roller skating and archery, disc golf, fly fishing, art, swimming and so much more.

— susan b. barnes, USA TODAY, "Leave the kids behind: Summer camp for adults," 6 July 2018
State law covering video gambling allows an exemption from that rule for truck stops that are on at least three acres and sell a minimum of 10,000 gallons a month of diesel or biodiesel fuel.

— mike nolan, Daily Southtown, "Annexation hearing scheduled for gas station that wants 24/7 gambling," 4 July 2018
The 27,000-square-foot French chateau on more than five acres of land at 9005 Camargo Road in Indian Hill was owned by former Ohio trial lawyer, Stan Chesley, and his wife, federal judge Susan Dlott.

— randy tucker, Cincinnati.com, "Cincinnati's most expensive home sold for $5M," 3 July 2018
The school will be built on just over 2.5 acres at 10269 Madrid Way at a cost of nearly $7 million.

— karen pearlman, sandiegouniontribune.com, "College Prep middle school breaks ground in Spring Valley," 3 July 2018
The mini city that’s nestled on 300 acres of land is historic, too, as the realtor's website claims it’s the first major mining camp south of the Sierra Nevada.

— megan stein, Country Living, "This Real-Life Ghost Town Is for Sale So You Can Celebrate Halloween All Year Long," 27 June 2018

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.

Origin and Etymology of acre

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.

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: before 12th century

in the meaning defined at sense 1a

See Words from the same year

Other Weights and Measures Terms

avoirdupois weight, calorie, denier, kip, pace, twain

Acre

geographical name \ ˈä-krē , -(ˌ)krā \

Definition of Acre

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