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• acre
  acre

  noun

  a common measure of area: in the U.S. and U.K., 1 acre equals 4,840 square yards (4,047 square meters) or 0.405 hectare; 640 acres equals one square mile.
• Acre
  Acre

  noun

  a state in W Brazil. 58,900 sq. mi. (152,550 sq. km). Rio Branco.

acre

¹ American  

[ay-ker] / ˈeɪ kər /

noun

• acres
  plural

1. a common measure of area: in the U.S. and U.K., 1 acre equals 4,840 square yards (4,047 square meters) or 0.405 hectare; 640 acres equals one square mile.

2. acres,

   1. lands; land.

      wooded acres.

   2. Informal. large quantities.

      acres of Oriental rugs.

3. Archaic. a plowed or sown field.

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idioms

1. forty acres and a mule. mule.

Acre ² American  

[ah-kruh, ah-ker, ay-ker] / ˈɑ krə, ˈɑ kər, ˈeɪ kər /

noun

1. a state in W Brazil. 58,900 sq. mi. (152,550 sq. km). Rio Branco.

2. a seaport in NW Israel: besieged and captured by Crusaders 1191.

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Acre ¹ British  

noun

1. a state of W Brazil: mostly unexplored tropical forests; acquired from Bolivia in 1903. Capital: Rio Branco. Pop: 586 942 (2002). Area: 152 589 sq km (58 899 sq miles)

2. Arabic name: `Akka. Hebrew name: `Akko. Old Testament name: Accho. a city and port in N Israel, strategically situated on the Bay of Acre in the E Mediterranean: taken and retaken during the Crusades (1104, 1187, 1191, 1291), taken by the Turks (1517), by Egypt (1832), and by the Turks again (1839). Pop: 45 600 (2001)

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acre ² British  

/ ˈeɪkə /

noun

1. a unit of area used in certain English-speaking countries, equal to 4840 square yards or 4046.86 square metres

2. (plural)

   1. land, esp a large area

   2. informal a large amount

      he has acres of space in his room

3. to graze cows on the verge of a road

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acre Scientific  

/ ā′kər /

1. A unit of area in the US Customary System, used in land and sea floor measurement and equal to 43,560 square feet or 4,047 square meters.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• half-acre
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• acres
  plural

Etymology

Origin of acre

First recorded before 1000; Middle English aker, Old English æcer; cognate with Old Frisian ekker, Old Saxon akkar, Old High German ackar ( German Acker ), Old Norse akr, Gothic akers, Latin ager, Greek agrós, Sanskrit ájra-; see also acorn, agrarian, agrestic, agriculture, agro-

Explanation

An acre is a unit for measuring area, especially larger areas like farms. An acre is 4840 square yards. It's pretty easy to imagine a square yard: three feet by three feet. Now imagine 4840 of them and you've got an acre. That's a pretty large chunk of land, and acres are used for measuring big areas in some English-speaking countries. Large areas such as farms, forests, and golf courses are likely to be measured in acres. Farms in particular need many acres to grow crops and give the animals space to live.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

acre Acre acres

Pine plantations are started with several hundred seedlings an acre.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026

To keep up with demand, he has started planting 3 acres of fresh lettuce every other week, rather than his typical 1 acre.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 2, 2026

The lab sat on an acre of land in a forest that straddles the border of Abidagba and Iroto villages.

From Barron's ● Jul. 29, 2026

It quickly grew from half an acre to five acres.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 7, 2026

Rocks, dirt, barbed wire, ferocious dogs, menacing guards, and acre after acre of drab barracks stretched as far as I could see.

From "The Boy on the Wooden Box" by Leon Leyson

One such island in Wisconsin's Lake Chippewa is known as the Forty Acre Bog.

From BBC ● Sep. 1, 2026

Hundred Acre denied the claims and said it plans to “vigorously defend” itself in court.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 29, 2026

One of Shepard’s maps of the Hundred Acre Wood currently holds the Guinness Book of World Records for the most expensive book illustration sold at auction.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 9, 2026

"It's my point of view. It was my action," she says in the grounds of Castle Acre Priory, Norfolk.

From BBC ● Jun. 7, 2025

By the time she got to the Acre she was out of breath and could hardly ask the children playing in the streets where Brigid’s house might be.

From "Lyddie" by Katherine Paterson

Carter's company has more than 1,250 acres of apple orchards in Washington, and the fruit is grown for sliced apple portions – often sold to hotels and schools, for example.

From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2026

Built in 1996, the four-bedroom, 5.5-bathroom home spans 7,236 square feet and sits on 1.26 acres.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 29, 2026

To get the money, the township just needed to let NorthPoint Development build its data center, the first of 15 buildings the firm planned on 1,300 acres in the Pocono foothills.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 27, 2026

They also routed water to 350 acres of new earthen basins.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 26, 2026

He would come home, have a quick supper, and head out with Trampita and me to our three acres, where we worked until dusk.

From "Breaking Through" by Francisco Jiménez

Related Words

• acreage
• estate
• plot
• property