Arable

//ˈæɹəbl̩// adj, name, noun

adj, name, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Land that can be cropped (i.e., land that is arable); land that is being cropped (i.e., land that is in the cropping phase of a crop rotation, currently being cropped rather than used as pasture or fallow). uncountable, usually

    "Arrangements for the drainage of this piece of arable were commenced last summer"

Adjective
  1. 1
    Able to be plowed or tilled, capable of growing crops (traditionally contrasted with pasturable lands such as heaths).

    "And again, since no animal now stole, it was unnecessary to fence off pasture from arable land […]"

  2. 2
    Under cultivation (within any quinquennial period) for the production of crops sown and harvested within the same agricultural year (contrasted with permanently-cropped lands such as orchards).
Adjective
  1. 1
    (of farmland) capable of being farmed productively wordnet
Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A locality in the Snowy Monaro council area, south eastern New South Wales, Australia.

Synonyms

All synonyms
agrariancultivablecultivatablecultivatablefarmfarmable

Example

More examples

"Arable land is land that can be used to grow crops."

Etymology

From Middle English arable, from Middle French arable, from Old French arable, from Latin arābilis, formed from arō (“plow”) + -bilis (“able to be”). Cognate with earable (“arable”).

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.