plantation

noun

plan·​ta·​tion plan-ˈtā-shən How to pronounce plantation (audio)
1
: a usually large group of plants and especially trees under cultivation
2
: a settlement in a new country or region
Plymouth Plantation
3
a
: a place that is planted or under cultivation
b
: an agricultural estate usually worked by resident labor

Examples of plantation in a Sentence

the struggling plantation almost failed during the first winter
Recent Examples on the Web Following up on past observations that caecilian broods spend a lot of time around the maternal vent, Jared, Antoniazzi, and their co-researchers collected 16 female caecilians and their young from beneath the forest floor of cacao plantations. Popular Science, 7 Mar. 2024 Even the school's moniker — Ole Miss — derives from the term enslaved people once used for the mistress of the plantation. Debbie Elliott, NPR, 28 Feb. 2024 The Stolen Wealth of Slavery, by David Montero Journalist David Montero’s searing, meticulous history demonstrates that the banks and corporations of the North, more than the plantations of the South, benefited financially from slavery in the U.S. Many of those entities are still in business today. Staff, The Christian Science Monitor, 27 Feb. 2024 On the one hand, American businesses sought cheap labor from Asia and the Pacific for their factories, plantations and fields. Theodore S. Gonzalves, Smithsonian Magazine, 16 Feb. 2024 White plantation owners often fed enslaved Black people meat scraps, such as pigs’ feet, neck bones, ears, snouts and intestines. V.m. Vines, Baltimore Sun, 23 Jan. 2024 Soon, Evie, an enslaved old friend of Charlotte is brought to Philadelphia with a mistress from their old plantation. Lynnette Nicholas, Essence, 22 Jan. 2024 As the company presses ahead with the expansion of its eucalyptus plantations, concerns have been raised around the consequences of large-scale monoculture practices, including depletion of water sources, land degradation, and adverse impacts on traditional communities. Angelica Mari, Forbes, 21 Feb. 2024 Records vary, but Pierre Toussaint is believed to have been born in 1781 on a sugar cane plantation in Saint-Domingue (now Haiti) owned by the Bérard family. Elizabeth Stone, New York Times, 18 Feb. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'plantation.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of plantation was in the 15th century

Dictionary Entries Near plantation

Cite this Entry

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

Kids Definition

plantation

noun
plan·​ta·​tion plan-ˈtā-shən How to pronounce plantation (audio)
1
: a group of plants and especially trees planted and cared for
2
: a settlement in a new country or region : colony
3
: a planted area
especially : an agricultural estate worked by laborers

Geographical Definition

Plantation

geographical name

city in southeastern Florida west of Fort Lauderdale population 84,955

More from Merriam-Webster on plantation

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