as in dormant
not being in a state of use, activity, or employment
the coal mine has been lying fallow since the drop in prices made it unprofitable
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Recent Examples of fallow
Tod Leonard, San Diego Union-Tribune, 22 Mar. 2025
Brice Matthews, now the top position player prospect in this fallow farm system, has played better at Triple-A across the past two weeks, but is nowhere near forcing the organization’s hand for a major-league call-up.
—Chandler Rome, New York Times, 7 May 2025
Laura Reiley, BostonGlobe.com, 5 Sep. 2022
Compromising probably would require money — perhaps tax money — to pay farmers to fallow their land and governments to build new canals and repair old ones.
—Los Angeles Times, 20 Feb. 2023
See All Example Sentences for fallow
Adjective
Rams Hill’s previous ownership went bankrupt and let the course go fallow, and the course’s rights to potable water were sold to the Borrego Springs Water District.
—Tod Leonard, San Diego Union-Tribune, 22 Mar. 2025
Brice Matthews, now the top position player prospect in this fallow farm system, has played better at Triple-A across the past two weeks, but is nowhere near forcing the organization’s hand for a major-league call-up.
—Chandler Rome, New York Times, 7 May 2025
Verb
Many growers decided to fallow their fields and sell their water to perennial crops like almonds to defray their losses.
—Laura Reiley, BostonGlobe.com, 5 Sep. 2022
Compromising probably would require money — perhaps tax money — to pay farmers to fallow their land and governments to build new canals and repair old ones.
—Los Angeles Times, 20 Feb. 2023
See All Example Sentences for fallow
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fallow
Adjective
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As a measure of how dormant the rivalry is, the two teams have not faced each other since 2008 — a year before Thomas Muller, who will leave Bayern this summer as their record appearance-maker with 751 (so far), had even made his competitive debut.—
Sebastian Stafford-Bloor,
New York Times,
7 June 2025
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Before Thursday, the court case had become somewhat dormant since the judge had made initial rulings against Trump’s actions around Harvard student visas.—
Andy Rose,
CNN Money,
5 June 2025
Verb
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Jensen is raking at Double-A with a .302 batting average, five home runs and 35 RBIs.—
Jaylon Thompson,
Kansas City Star,
19 June 2025
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The charges are so ridiculous that Lander’s and Baraka’s were immediately dropped, with a judge raking prosecutors over the coals in the latter case.—
New York Daily News Editorial Board,
New York Daily News,
19 June 2025
Adjective
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Entering play Thursday, an off day for the Yankees, the reigning American League MVP had the highest average (.361), OPS (1.180), fWAR (6.1) and wRC+ (221) in baseball.—
Gary Phillips,
New York Daily News,
26 June 2025
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His hope is two off days — Wednesday’s game and the team’s off-day on Thursday — will put him in position to return to the lineup on Friday in Cincinnati.—
Jeff Sanders,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
25 June 2025
Verb
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To stay on top of weeds, plan to hand-pull or hoe down weeds early in the season when their root systems are still small, and then spend a few minutes weeding each week.—
Lauren Landers,
Better Homes & Gardens,
14 June 2025
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Wayward rhizomes that pop up as new plants can be hoed or chopped.—
Andy Wilcox,
Better Homes & Gardens,
18 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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In 1870, Mississippi legislators voted 81 to 15 to elect Revels to the Senate to finish the term of one of the state’s two U.S Senate seats, which had been left vacant since the Civil War.—
Bea L. Hines,
Miami Herald,
19 June 2025
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Earlier this month, Udoka was the subject of interest from the New York Knicks for their vacant head coaching position, one that the Rockets vehemently shut down.—
Kelly Iko,
New York Times,
19 June 2025
Verb
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Shapiro had a pilot’s license and was listed as the owner of the plane that crashed, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.—
Tracy Wright,
FOXNews.com,
19 June 2025
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The Nintendo Switch 2 with the Mario Kart World bundle is listed as $499.99 on GameStop's website.—
Taylor Ardrey,
USA Today,
19 June 2025
Adjective
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For companies with aspirations to list in the next 12 to 24 months, the current limbo is not a time to sit idle.—
Rene Musech,
Forbes.com,
18 June 2025
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These are just 11-on-11 stats compiled by SNY's Connor Hughes, but this says Jaxson Dart isn't coming to work to accept a backup position and sit idle for a year.—
Geoffrey Knox,
MSNBC Newsweek,
18 June 2025
Verb
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Before the big race, the track was harrowed, bringing it to a better and drier racing surface.—
John Cherwa,
Los Angeles Times,
7 June 2025
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The research fellow who met me, Birte, was in her forties, and appeared as if she had been harrowed by her work.—
John Ganz,
Harper's Magazine,
22 May 2024
Cite this Entry
“Fallow.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fallow. Accessed 30 Jun. 2025.
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