land

1 of 2

noun

ˈland

often attributive

Synonyms of land next

: the solid part of the surface of the earth

also : a corresponding part of a celestial body (such as the moon)

: ground or soil of a specified situation, nature, or quality

dry land

: the surface of the earth and all its natural resources

: a portion of the earth's solid surface distinguishable by boundaries or ownership

bought land in the country

: such as

: country

the finest cheese in all the land

: a rural area characterized by farming or ranching

also : farming or ranching as a way of life

wanted to move back to the land

: realm, domain

in the land of dreams

—sometimes used in combination

TV-land

: the people of a country

the land rose in rebellion

: an area of a partly machined surface (such as the inside of a gun barrel) that is left without machining

landless

ˈland-ləs

adjective

landlessness

ˈland-ləs-nəs

noun

land

2 of 2

verb

landed; landing; lands

transitive verb

: to set or put on shore from a ship : disembark

: to set down after conveying

: to cause to reach or come to rest in a particular place

never landed a punch

: to bring to a specified condition

his wit landed him in trouble

: to bring to a landing

land an airplane

: to complete successfully by landing

the skater landed all her jumps

: to catch and bring in

land a fish

: gain, secure

land a job

landed the leading role

intransitive verb

: to go ashore from a ship : disembark

of a ship or boat : to touch at a place on shore

: to come to the end of a course or to a stage in a journey : arrive

took a wrong turn and landed on a dead-end street

: to come to be in a condition or situation

landed in jail

: to strike or meet a surface (as after a fall)

landed on my head

: to alight on a surface

Examples of land in a Sentence

Noun the land along the highway The land stretched as far as you could see. They cleared some land to grow crops. After two days of sailing, we were miles from land. They invaded the country by land and by sea. They own land in Alaska. They bought some land and built a house. His lands extend as far as the eye can see. He was the most powerful politician in the land. the lands of the Far East Verb The plane landed on the runway. We watched the seaplanes landing on the water. The bird landed in a tree. A butterfly landed on the flower. Our flight was scheduled to land in Pittsburgh at 4:00. It was raining heavily at the airport when we landed. The pilot was able to land the plane on the runway. The golf ball landed in the trees. I could not see where the ball landed. The cat fell from the tree but landed on its feet. See More

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Hundreds of miles from land, the Category 5 hurricane is forecast to climb to 180 mph winds Friday, an extremely powerful storm making the most of a warm, open ocean and light winds. —

Dinah Voyles Pulver, USA TODAY, 9 Sep. 2023 Shelton said a 10-year adverse possession law, which requires payment of property taxes, is more commonly used in disputes over land borders. —

David Gambino The Decatur Daily, al, 8 Sep. 2023 Across the street from Pinecrest, Mulcahy said, is the Weintraub property, which consists of about 80 acres of undeveloped land that runs south of Harvard Road between Orange Place and Brainard Road. —

Ed Wittenberg, cleveland, 8 Sep. 2023 From about Interstate 495 east to the Route 128 belt, pick any nice day from roughly the second week of October until late in the month and explore the plethora of local farms or lands under conservation. —

Dave Epstein, BostonGlobe.com, 7 Sep. 2023 In 1989, the couple started importing more exotic animals and buying more land to house them. —

Wendy Grossman Kantor, Peoplemag, 7 Sep. 2023 The account provided 176 years ago by Armstrong—an Irish American friendly to the Choctaw, despite being a government official—communicated that mass starvation and land evictions were taking place, and the Irish people needed help. —

Richard Grant, Smithsonian Magazine, 7 Sep. 2023 The wildfire has scorched 297 square miles of land and had 120 active hotspots, the European Union’s Copernicus Emergency Management Service said Sunday. —

Elena Becatoros, BostonGlobe.com, 27 Aug. 2023 What McCord set in motion reverberates in US cattle country today, where conflicts over land use have led to armed standoffs and death. —

WIRED, 26 Aug. 2023

Verb

An Air Canada jet preparing to land there in 2017 nearly crashed into other planes after mistaking a taxiway for the runway. —

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Arkansas Online, 9 Sep. 2023 Your boyfriend has truly scored in terms of landing partner who is so receptive to his hobbies and interests. —

Wayne and Wanda, Anchorage Daily News, 9 Sep. 2023 The manuscript went through a 14-way auction, eventually landing at Atria for a seven-figure deal — and an adaptation was already in the works at Hulu after a similarly competitive bidding war. —

Seija Rankin, The Hollywood Reporter, 8 Sep. 2023 He’s journeyed to five other big league organizations since, landing in Baltimore this spring for the best season of his nine-year career. —

Jacob Calvin Meyer, Baltimore Sun, 8 Sep. 2023 Princess Kate received several gifts of flowers and apologized for them arriving late, as their helicopter wasn’t able to safely get through misty conditions and had to land further from the city than hoped. —

Simon Perry, Peoplemag, 8 Sep. 2023 Now, in a table-turning moment, Meisel is behind a new collection at Zara, landing in stores and online this month. —

José Criales-Unzueta, Vogue, 8 Sep. 2023 Japan launched a rocket to the moon Wednesday in an attempt to become the fifth country to land on the lunar surface, according to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). —

Mary Kekatos, ABC News, 7 Sep. 2023 Moreover, Wilson is just the fourth artist in CMA history to land nine or more nominations in a single year. —

Paul Grein, Billboard, 7 Sep. 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'land.' 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

Noun

Middle English lond, land, going back to Old English, going back to Germanic *landa- (strong neuter noun), perhaps originally "untilled land" (whence also Old Frisian land, lond "land, earth, country, landed property," Old Saxon land, Old High German lant, Old Norse land, Gothic land "field, country"), going back to dialectal Indo-European *lond^h-o-, o-grade form of a noun with apparent zero-grade *ln̥d^h-eh₂- in Celtic *land-ā-, whence Old Irish land, lann "land, plot, church building," Welsh llan "church and its adjoining property, enclosure," also Old Irish ithlann "threshing floor" (with ith "grain"), Old Welsh itlann, glossing Latin ārea "threshing floor," Welsh ydlan "barnyard" (with ŷd "grain"); and probably in Elfdalian (dialect of north central Sweden) linda "overgrown field," Old Prussian lindan (accusative singular) "valley"; zero-grade *ln̥d^h- or full grade *lend^h- in Slavic *lęd-, whence Russian ljadá "uncultivated field with first-growth forest," Old Russian ljadina "wasteland, weeds, thick brush," Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian lèdina, ledìna "wasteland, virgin soil," Polish ląnd "dry land, mainland"

Note: The etymon is limited to northern European Indo-European: Celtic, Germanic, Slavic and (marginally) Baltic. E. Seebold (in F. Kluge, Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 22. Auflage, 1989) proposes a derivative *lem-d^h- from a verbal base *lem- "break (ground)," whence Old Church Slavic lemešĭ "plow," Lithuanian lẽmežis "wooden part of the plough" (compare Old Church Slavic lomiti "to break"). The suggestion has also been made that the etymon was borrowed from a non-Indo-European language.

Verb

Middle English londen, landen, derivative of lond, land land entry 1

First Known Use

Noun

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

Verb

13th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

Time Traveler

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

See more words from the same century

Phrases Containing land

Cite this Entry

Style

“Land.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/land. Accessed 21 Sep. 2023.

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Kids Definition

land

1 of 2 noun

ˈland

: the solid part of the surface of the earth

: a portion of the earth's surface

fenced land

marshy land

: country entry 1 sense 2b, nation

: real estate

owns land in Alaska

landless

ˈlan-dləs

adjective

land

2 of 2 verb

: to set or go ashore from a ship : disembark

: to stop at or near a place on shore

: to come down or bring down and settle on a surface

land a plane

: to bring to or arrive at a destination or a position or condition

land in jail

: to catch and bring in

land a fish

: secure entry 2 sense 3, gain

land a job

lander noun

Legal Definition

land

noun

: an area of the earth usually inclusive of improvements, bodies of water, and natural or man-made objects and extending indefinitely upward and downward compare air right

: an estate, interest, or right in land

land means both surface and mineral rights—

California Public Resources Code

Biographical Definition

Land

biographical name

ˈland

Edwin Herbert 1909–1991 American inventor and industrialist

Last Updated: 11 Sep 2023 - Updated example sentences

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land

noun

verb

Synonyms

Examples of land in a Sentence

Word History

Dictionary Entries Near land

Cite this Entry

Kids Definition

Legal Definition

Biographical Definition

biographical name