agrarian

1 of 2

adjective

agrar·​i·​an ə-ˈgrer-ē-ən How to pronounce agrarian (audio)
1
: of or relating to fields or lands or their tenure
agrarian landscapes
2
a
: of, relating to, or characteristic of farmers or their way of life
agrarian values
b
: organized or designed to promote agricultural interests
an agrarian political party

agrarian

2 of 2

noun

: a member of an agrarian party or movement (see agrarian entry 1 sense 2b)

Did you know?

Today, an acre is generally considered to be a unit of land measuring 43,560 square feet (4,047 square meters). Before that standard was set, it's believed that an acre represented a rougher measurement: the amount of land that could be plowed in one day with a yoke of oxen. Both acre and agrarian derive from the Latin noun ager and the Greek noun agrós, meaning "piece of land, field." (You can probably guess that agriculture is another descendant.) Agrarian, first used in English in the 16th century, describes things pertaining to the cultivation of fields, as well as the farmers who cultivate them.

Examples of agrarian in a Sentence

Adjective a town founded in 1811 as an agrarian community
Recent Examples on the Web
Adjective
But Portugal's beach destination du jour actually sits in the more agrarian region of Alentejo. Lindsay Cohn, Travel + Leisure, 7 Mar. 2024 Waldman even seems to revive an old agrarian connection between working and writing, between a line drawn by a plow and a line of poetry. Katy Waldman, The New Yorker, 6 Mar. 2024 Jalisco is also home to a diversified agrarian economy that produces a variety of products ranging from tequila (a product that earned Mexico $4.2 billion in export revenues in 2023) to berries. Nathaniel Parish Flannery, Forbes, 28 Feb. 2024 That agrarian spirit of self-reliance mixed with egalitarianism still emanates from Pendergrass. Tyrone Beason, Los Angeles Times, 21 Sep. 2023 After a few years living among the agrarian Funnel Beaker society, he was brutally murdered. Brendan Rascius, Miami Herald, 15 Feb. 2024 The holiday marks the arrival of spring and the start of a new year under the lunisolar calendar in a celebration that dates back to the Chinese agrarian tradition. TIME, 10 Feb. 2024 The ancient women also had a stronger upper body, which indicated their lives were spent in agrarian work. Emilie Le Beau Lucchesi, Discover Magazine, 9 Feb. 2024 Economic differences, with the North’s industrialized model versus the South’s agrarian focus, deepened the sectionalism. Letter Writers, Twin Cities, 1 Jan. 2024
Noun
The Eldon house that Wood depicted, built in 1881, wasn’t the ancestral home of sturdy agrarians. Daniel Immerwahr, The New Yorker, 16 Oct. 2023 Even if you’re not blessed with a home that’s contemporaneous with George Washington—or couldn’t distinguish between John Deere and John Derian in a police lineup, for that matter—there are still ways to embrace your inner agrarian. Anna Fixsen, ELLE Decor, 15 Mar. 2023 The writer-agrarian-soil conservationist founded Malabar Farm in Mansfield. Marc Bona, cleveland, 7 Dec. 2020 Closing the forts frustrated foreclosure proceedings; moreover, for Shay’s enraged agrarians, the courts were a tangible symbol of the eastern moneyed interest and of a government unresponsive to their needs. Thomas Wendel, National Review, 4 July 2019 Southern agrarians disdained capitalism; Peter Viereck spent his time lecturing Americans on the virtues of Metternich and that great homegrown Tory, FDR. Richard Brookhiser, National Review, 4 June 2019 There are the populares of Ancient Rome, the agrarians of nineteenth-century Wisconsin, and the Peronists of twentieth-century Argentina. Yascha Mounk, New Republic, 19 July 2017 Jefferson, an agrarian, generally opposed a strong central government. Jonathan W. White, Smithsonian, 17 Mar. 2017

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

Adjective

Latin agrārius "of landed property" (from agr-, ager "piece of land, field" + -ārius -ary entry 2) + -an entry 2 — more at acre

Noun

derivative of agrarian entry 1

First Known Use

Adjective

1593, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Noun

1795, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of agrarian was in 1593

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Dictionary Entries Near agrarian

Cite this Entry

“Agrarian.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/agrarian. Accessed 18 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

agrarian

adjective
agrar·​i·​an
ə-ˈgrer-ē-ən,
-ˈgrar-
1
: of or relating to fields or lands or their ownership
agrarian reforms
2
: of, relating to, or concerned with farmers or farming interests
an agrarian political party
3
: agricultural sense 2
an agrarian country

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