What does "tiller" mean?
A person who tills; a farmer.
Tiller
/ˈtɪlə/ name, noun, verb
name, noun, verb ·Moderate ·High school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A person who tills; a farmer.
- Grammar: tiller is listed as name, noun, verb.
- Nearest alternatives: cultivator, agrarians, agricola, agriculturalist.
- Useful contrasts: city dweller, nonfarmer, wheel.
- Usage evidence: A small boat is steered by means of a tiller fitted to the head of the rudder.
How to use "tiller"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "tiller" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "tiller" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "tiller" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "tiller" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "tiller" is acting as name, noun, verb in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "cultivator" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "tiller", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A person who tills; a farmer.
"In France, Europe's most fertile and cultivated land, the tillers of it suffered more and more hunger."
- 2 A young tree. obsolete
"first you must provide you of a Ladder to ascend the top of your Pit : this they usually make of a curved Tiller fit to apply to the convex shape of the heap"
- 3 The stock; a beam on a crossbow carved to fit the arrow, or the point of balance in a longbow.
"You can shoot in a tiller."
- 4 a farm implement used to break up the surface of the soil (for aeration and weed control and conservation of moisture) wordnet
- 5 A machine that mechanically tills the soil.
Show 10 more definitions
- 6 A shoot of a plant which springs from the root or bottom of the original stalk; a sapling; a sucker.
- 7 A bar of iron or wood connected with the rudderhead and leadline, usually forward, in which the rudder is moved as desired by the tiller (FM 55-501).
- 8 lever used to turn the rudder on a boat wordnet
- 9 The handle of the rudder which the helmsman holds to steer the boat, a piece of wood or metal extending forward from the rudder over or through the transom. Generally attached at the top of the rudder.
- 10 someone who tills land (prepares the soil for the planting of crops) wordnet
- 11 A steering wheel, usually mounted on the lower portion of the captain's control column, which is used to steer the aircraft's nosewheel or tailwheel to provide steering during taxi. broadly
- 12 a shoot that sprouts from the base of a grass wordnet
- 13 A handle; a stalk.
- 14 The rear-wheel steering control, aboard a tiller truck.
- 15 A small drawer; a till. UK, dialectal, obsolete
"But search her cabinet, and thou shalt find Each tiller there with love-epistles lin'd"
Verb
- 1 To produce new shoots from the root or from around the bottom of the original stalk; stool. intransitive
- 2 grow shoots in the form of stools or tillers wordnet
Proper Noun
- 1 A surname originating as an occupation. countable, uncountable
- 2 An unincorporated community in Douglas County, Oregon, United States. countable, uncountable
- 3 A suburb of Trondheim, formerly a municipality in Sør-Trøndelag, Norway. countable, uncountable
Example
"A small boat is steered by means of a tiller fitted to the head of the rudder."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "tiller"?
Common synonyms include: cultivator, agrarians, agricola, agriculturalist, agriculturist, agriculturist.
How do you use "tiller" in a sentence?
A small boat is steered by means of a tiller fitted to the head of the rudder.
How do you pronounce "tiller"?
Pronounced /ˈtɪlə/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle English tilier; equivalent to till + -er.
Etymology 2
From Middle English telȝre, telgra, from Old English telgor, telgra, telgre ("twig, branch, shoot") (also telga, telge (whence tillow)), from Proto-West Germanic *telguʀ, from Proto-Germanic *telguz (“twig, branch”), from Proto-Indo-European *delgʰ- (“to split, divide, cut, carve”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Tälge (“sapling”), Dutch telg (“descendant, scion, offshoot, shoot”), Dutch Low Saxon telge (“twig, branch”), German Zelge (“twig, branch, bough”), Swedish telning (“branch, scion, sapling”), Icelandic tág (“willow-twig”).
Etymology 3
From Middle English teler, from Anglo-Norman telier (“beam used in weaving”), from Medieval Latin telarium, from Latin tēla (“web”).
Etymology 4
Capitalization of tiller