tilled

past tense of till
as in cultivated
to work by plowing, sowing, and raising crops on farmers tilling the soil from sunup to sunset

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of tilled Ali’s father tilled tiny ancestral fields using an irrigation system developed during the Roman empire. — Literary Hub, 27 Aug. 2026 Creative soil has to be tilled every once in a while. — Peter Bogdanovich, IndieWire, 13 May 2026 Red clover can make a drought- and shade-tolerant lawn alternative, but it is more often grown as an annual winter cover crop and then tilled into the soil as green manure. — Hallie Milstein, Southern Living, 13 May 2026 Unlike parks or residential lawns, cemeteries are rarely dug up, tilled or redeveloped — which means the soil remains stable year after year. — Ryan Brennan, Charlotte Observer, 23 Apr. 2026 Solid manure from feedlots, poultry houses or composting dairy barns is spread and tilled under. — Edward Lotterman, Twin Cities, 15 Mar. 2026 These tools – still carrying the soil from which they were tilled – represent the work of the immigrant farmworkers of all backgrounds who helped build California’s agriculture industry, which continues to feed the nation today. — Sam Vong, The Conversation, 18 Dec. 2025 The wheat fields themselves told their own story—deep brown and newly tilled in autumn, then green in spring, golden in summer. — Hannah Howard, Travel + Leisure, 22 Nov. 2025 The rest was tilled into the ground. — Jessica Winter, New Yorker, 4 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tilled
Verb
  • Indígena by Owamni in Minneapolis serves manoomin, among many other wild and cultivated foods native to the Americas.
    — Tovar Cerulli, Condé Nast Traveler, 28 Oct. 2026
  • The Lone Star State native has cultivated a warm reverence for many of his costars across 40 years in film and TV, as Hawke shares in the latest installment of Vanity Fair’s Scene Selection.
    — Savannah Walsh, Vanity Fair, 27 Oct. 2026
Verb
  • Some Kurdish women describe violations of their bodily autonomy—having something foreign planted into the Kurdish female body through torture, rape, and trauma in the collective memory.
    — Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica, 27 Oct. 2026
  • The memorial included plaques and a tree planted in Johnson's memory.
    — CBS News, CBS News, 27 Oct. 2026
Verb
  • Playing his first game in the tournament, Shadab scored 113 not out off 96 balls and farmed most of the strike.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 25 Oct. 2026
  • Once-fringe parties advocating permanent Israeli control over the West Bank, and the expansion of settlements into areas where Palestinians have long lived or farmed, have gained a far more influential voice.
    — Ned Temko, Christian Science Monitor, 22 Oct. 2026
Verb
  • Dating back millennia, Alaska Native communities have stewarded and sustainably harvested wild salmon runs, building smokehouses and summer fish camps (many of which are still in use).
    — Kate Nelson, Condé Nast Traveler, 28 Oct. 2026
  • Under the Soil Association’s rules, products carrying its seal of approval are 100% natural, and at least 70% of their non-water ingredients are organically grown and harvested.
    — Brianna Peters, Vogue, 26 Oct. 2026

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Cite this Entry

“Tilled.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tilled. Accessed 4 Nov. 2026.

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