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 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 Château de Selle is located inland from the Mediterranean Sea, on limestone hillsides, planted in arid limestone soil––the earth is actually mechanically tilled to crush the rocks; yields from the 345-acre organic (since 2022) estate are low. John Mariani, Forbes.com, 12 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tilled
Verb
  • With the help of team psychologist Dr Pippa Grange, England cultivated a team ethos in a manner that was incongruous to generations before them — and felt somewhat jarring, based on English societal norms.
    Mark Carey, New York Times, 9 Aug. 2026
  • The firms that will thrive are the ones that treat their workforce as a portfolio of skills to be cultivated and thoughtfully deployed alongside AI.
    Ravin Jesuthasan, Fortune, 7 Aug. 2026
Verb
  • Wilson’s draft night peers await The Bulls rookie planted his flag some time ago.
    Joel Lorenzi, New York Times, 14 Aug. 2026
  • The Last Bison surrounded him with a thicket of acoustic instrumentation, including guitar, banjo, bass, and mandolin, while Fallon, cowboy hat planted firmly on his head, joined the fray with a washboard.
    Sophie Miller, Rolling Stone, 13 Aug. 2026
Verb
  • Elvis Muchai has farmed on the edge of Amboseli for two decades.
    ABC News, ABC News, 7 Aug. 2026
  • His mother was a dark-skinned granddaughter of Saint Ann’s enslaved whose peasant kin farmed dasheen and yams.
    Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 5 Aug. 2026
Verb
  • Irish oak is rarely used to age whiskey because there’s just not a whole lot of it, and there are legal restrictions on how much can be harvested.
    Jonah Flicker, Robb Report, 6 Aug. 2026
  • Researchers say oil-rich macauba palm seeds can be harvested to make a cleaner and renewable source of aviation fuel, Bloomberg energy correspondent Peter Millard reports.
    Tony Briscoe, Los Angeles Times, 6 Aug. 2026

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Cite this Entry

“Tilled.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tilled. Accessed 16 Aug. 2026.

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