acre

noun

ˈā-kər How to pronounce acre (audio)
1
a
archaic : a field especially of arable land or pastureland
b
acres plural : lands, estate
2
: any of various units of area
specifically : a unit in the U.S. and England equal to 43,560 square feet (4047 square meters) see Weights and Measures Table
3
: a broad expanse or great quantity
acres of free publicity

Examples of acre in a Sentence

The house sits on two acres of land. They own hundreds of acres of farmland.
Recent Examples on the Web
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.
Across Washington state, roughly 5,000 people are responding to 17 major wildfires, with 262,000 acres of land on fire, said Dave Upthegrove, the state’s commissioner of public lands. — Karina Tsui, CNN Money, 4 Aug. 2026 As of Monday afternoon, the three fires had together burned more than 10,000 acres with 0% containment, according to officials. — Tristan Maglunog, ABC News, 4 Aug. 2026 Then in the late winter, Mathon proposed rezoning all of its 188-acre Waterford Parkway South property, including the former airport’s runways and tie-down areas as well as large expanses of woodlands. — Don Stacom, Hartford Courant, 3 Aug. 2026 SpaceX and the state of Louisiana are close to finalizing a deal for the launch company to acquire about 130,000 acres along the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico. — Eric Berger, ArsTechnica, 3 Aug. 2026 See All Example Sentences for acre

Word History

Etymology

Middle English aker, acre, going back to Old English æcer, going back to Germanic *akraz (whence also, with k geminate in West Germanic, Old Saxon akkar "field," Old High German ackar, Old Norse akr "arable land," Gothic akrs "field"), going back to Indo-European *h2eǵros, whence also Latin ager, "piece of land, field," Greek agrós, Sanskrit ájrah

Note: This Indo-European noun is traditionally linked to the verbal base *h2eǵ- "drive (cattle, etc.)" (see agent), on the assumption that *h2eǵ-ros originally meant "pasture," "fallow land," onto which the cattle were driven, and later developed other senses, as "cultivated field." The semantic plausibility of such a derivation has recently been questioned, however.

First Known Use

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Time Traveler
The first known use of acre was before the 12th century

Phrases Containing acre

Rhymes for acre

See All Rhymes for acre

Browse Nearby Words

acrawl
acre
Acre
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Cite this Entry

“Acre.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/acre. Accessed 5 Aug. 2026.

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Kids Definition

acre

noun
ˈā-kər How to pronounce acre (audio)
1
plural : property consisting of land : estate
2
: a unit of area equal to 43,560 square feet (about 4047 square meters) see measure
Etymology

Old English æcer "field, cultivated land"

Geographical Definition

Acre 1 of 2

geographical name (1)

ˈä-krē How to pronounce Acre (audio) -(ˌ)krā How to pronounce Acre (audio)
state in western Brazil bordering on Peru and Bolivia; capital Rio Branco area 59,343 square miles (153,698 square kilometers), population 733,559

Acre

2 of 2

geographical name (2)

ˈä-kər How to pronounce Acre (audio)
ˈā-kər, 
ˈä-krə How to pronounce Acre (audio)
variants or Hebrew ʽAkko or Old Testament Accho
ˈä-kō How to pronounce Acre (audio)
ˈā-
 or New Testament Ptolemaïs
ˌtä-lə-ˈmā-əs How to pronounce Acre (audio)
city and port at the head of a bay on the Mediterranean Sea north of Mount Carmel in northwestern Israel population 37,400

More from Merriam-Webster on acre

Nglish: Translation of acre for Spanish Speakers

Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about acre

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