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
Robert F. Moss, Southern Living, 11 Mar. 2025
Next year, Glastonbury will take a fallow year to allow Worthy Farm to recover, making the demand to attend this year’s edition even greater than usual.
—Ellise Shafer, Variety, 6 Mar. 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
Only one opened during the fallow years of the 1980s and '90s.
—Robert F. Moss, Southern Living, 11 Mar. 2025
Next year, Glastonbury will take a fallow year to allow Worthy Farm to recover, making the demand to attend this year’s edition even greater than usual.
—Ellise Shafer, Variety, 6 Mar. 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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Like the virus that causes chicken pox (varicella-zoster), HPV can lie dormant in the body for decades.—
Liz Szabo,
Scientific American,
29 Apr. 2025
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Technology teams were left stranded, waiting months for essential components or scrambling to find alternatives from dormant inventories to maintain continuity.—
Archaana Pattabhii,
Forbes.com,
29 Apr. 2025
Verb
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The Annie set has 12 chairs, each designed to look like something that could literally rake through a head of hair.—
Nora Taylor,
Curbed,
23 Apr. 2025
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The cemetery was only sporadically maintained by its caretaker, and raking the long grass gave me the eerie feeling of running my fingers through a child’s hair.—
Hazlitt,
Hazlitt,
2 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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Except the Giants did it without an off day, on both sides of the country, and against contending teams.—
Grant Brisbee,
New York Times,
28 Apr. 2025
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That was enough for the Cavaliers to overcome an off day from All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell, who totaled just 13 points on 4-of-14 shooting from the field and 3-of-8 shooting on threes.—
Anthony Chiang,
Miami Herald,
26 Apr. 2025
Verb
-
Wayward rhizomes that pop up as new plants can be hoed or chopped.—
Andy Wilcox,
Better Homes & Gardens,
18 Mar. 2025
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The directors branch is notoriously snobby, which will be a tough row to hoe for Wicked’s Jon M. Chu, who got his start directing films in the Step Up and G.I. Joe franchises.—
Nate Jones,
Vulture,
23 Nov. 2024
Adjective
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In her next fight, Shevchenko faced ex-women’s strawweight champ Joanna Jedrzejczyk for the vacant flyweight title.—
Trent Reinsmith,
Forbes.com,
19 Apr. 2025
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And several blocks of tunnel below Chinatown, dug half a century ago for the Second Avenue subway, remain a vacant, unseen taunt.—
Justin Davidson,
Curbed,
18 Apr. 2025
Verb
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This is why Sandy is not listed in the landfall maps!—
Doyle Rice,
USA Today,
20 Apr. 2025
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Yes Please list the highlights of your civic involvement/activism in the city of Fort Worth: Served on Fort Worth City Council since 2023 Have you ever been arrested, charged with a crime or otherwise been part of a criminal proceeding?—
Harrison Mantas,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
20 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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To paraphrase, the real tragedies in life are the ones that blindside you on an idle Tuesday.—
Thomas G. Moukawsher,
MSNBC Newsweek,
17 Apr. 2025
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Traders borrow to short tokens or increase leverage, long-term holders unlock liquidity without selling, businesses take loans to fund operations, and lenders earn passive yield on idle assets.—
Nina Bambysheva,
Forbes.com,
14 Apr. 2025
Verb
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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
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Plus, Shin Ha-young is given little to do in the second half of the series despite her effortless shift from warm third wheel to harrowed and weary abuse victim.—
Geoffrey Bunting,
Rolling Stone,
26 Oct. 2023
Cite this Entry
“Fallow.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fallow. Accessed 3 May. 2025.
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