fallow
1(of land) plowed and left unseeded for a season or more; uncultivated.
not in use; inactive: My creative energies have lain fallow this year.
land that has undergone plowing and harrowing and has been left unseeded for one or more growing seasons.
to make (land) fallow for agricultural purposes.
Origin of fallow
1Other words from fallow
- fal·low·ness, noun
- un·fal·lowed, adjective
Words Nearby fallow
Other definitions for fallow (2 of 2)
pale-yellow; light-brown; dun.
Origin of fallow
2Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use fallow in a sentence
There are reports of farmers allowing fields to go fallow this spring because there probably will not be enough water to sustain some crops through the season.
California facing drought crisis as water shortages mount and fire danger escalates | Diana Leonard, Laris Karklis | May 21, 2021 | Washington PostIf their dispute is not resolved in the next few weeks, Crummell could remain fallow for years to come.
Children in Ivy City have already waited too long for a place to play | Theresa Vargas | May 12, 2021 | Washington PostIf their dispute is not resolved in the next few weeks, Crummell could remain fallow for years to come, a prospect that infuriates residents such as Brenda Ingram, who lives down the street, in a house next door to where she grew up.
Inside the housing showdown in D.C.’s Ivy City, where kids have no place to play | Paul Schwartzman | May 7, 2021 | Washington PostBy allowing fields to lie fallow, or planting cover crops, they can return nutrients to the soil.
Humanity’s greatest ally against climate change is the Earth itself | Sarah Kaplan | April 22, 2021 | Washington PostHachimura had 17 points but, like Beal, was fallow from beyond the arc, missing his three attempts.
Wizards are off the mark again, fall at home to Kings as skid reaches five | Ava Wallace | March 18, 2021 | Washington Post
The mobilizing energy of the campaign fell fallow after Inauguration Day in 2009.
Progressive-palooza: On Obama, Occupy, and Moral Monday | Jedediah Purdy | July 5, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTMany of the signs posted on the fields that are supposed to be left fallow now litter the road ditches.
The Mafia Plants Death in Italy’s Land of Mozzarella | Barbie Latza Nadeau | March 20, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTBut cider production and consumption is on the rise after a long fallow period.
Professionally, Vidal's last decade while not fallow was not golden.
For the next three decades the team lay fallow, promising much, achieving nothing.
In no farm, however, is the fallow laid aside; it is considered as indispensable for wheat, and on poor lands for rye.
This appears clear from Aristotle placing the bubalus with the stags and fallow deer, and not with the oxen.
Buffon's Natural History. Volume VIII (of 10) | Georges Louis Leclerc de BuffonThere are many herds of them in the royal menagerie; and they produce together as freely as the fallow-deer.
Buffon's Natural History. Volume VIII (of 10) | Georges Louis Leclerc de BuffonIt would be a difficult point to determine the original species of the fallow-deer.
Buffon's Natural History. Volume IX (of 10) | Georges Louis Leclerc de BuffonThe smallest roe-bucks are generally of a fallow colour, and the largest brown.
Buffon's Natural History. Volume IX (of 10) | Georges Louis Leclerc de Buffon
British Dictionary definitions for fallow (1 of 2)
/ (ˈfæləʊ) /
(of land) left unseeded after being ploughed and harrowed to regain fertility for a crop
(of an idea, state of mind, etc) undeveloped or inactive, but potentially useful
land treated in this way
(tr) to leave (land) unseeded after ploughing and harrowing it
Origin of fallow
1Derived forms of fallow
- fallowness, noun
British Dictionary definitions for fallow (2 of 2)
/ (ˈfæləʊ) /
of a light yellowish-brown colour
Origin of fallow
2Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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