ranch
Americannoun
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an establishment maintained for raising livestock under range conditions.
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Chiefly Western U.S. and Canada. a large farm used primarily to raise one kind of crop or animal.
a mink ranch.
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a dude ranch.
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the persons employed or living on a ranch.
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I’ll have the small salad, with ranch on the side.
verb (used without object)
noun
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a large tract of land, esp one in North America, together with the necessary personnel, buildings, and equipment, for rearing livestock, esp cattle
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any large farm for the rearing of a particular kind of livestock or crop
a mink ranch
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the buildings, land, etc, connected with it
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verb
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(intr) to manage or run a ranch
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(tr) to raise (animals) on or as if on a ranch
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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ranchsimple
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ranchessimple
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have ranchedperfect
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has ranchedperfect
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am ranchingprogressive
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are ranchingprogressive
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is ranchingprogressive
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have been ranchingperfect progressive
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has been ranchingperfect progressive
Past
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ranchedsimple
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had ranchedperfect
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was ranchingprogressive
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were ranchingprogressive
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had been ranchingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of ranch
An Americanism dating from 1800–10; from Spanish rancho “farm, cattle farm, ranch”; see origin at rancho
Explanation
A ranch is a large farm that raises animals, generally grazing animals like cows or sheep. If you dream of raising big, strange-looking birds, you could decide to have an emu or an ostrich ranch instead. Ranches raise animals for meat, and in the case of sheep or alpacas, for wool. When you work on a ranch, you can say that you ranch. A ranch is also a type of single-story, simple house architecturally influenced by the western, informal style of working ranches, which first appeared in the 1950s in the Western US. Ranch comes from the Spanish rancho, first "group of people who eat together" and later "group of farm huts."
Vocabulary lists containing ranch
Australia and New Zealand - Introductory
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Australia and New Zealand - Middle School and High School
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The 200-acre ranch is a living archive of American history and a reminder of the tension between tradition and innovation that describes both farming and America’s founding.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jul. 2, 2026
Valued at between $20 million to $30 million -- the highest price estimate ever for a dinosaur -- the giant fossil was discovered on a cattle ranch in South Dakota in 2021.
From Barron's • Jul. 1, 2026
This squeeze starts upstream on the ranch and flows straight through to your hamburger on the grill.
From MarketWatch • Jun. 30, 2026
One recurring theme has been ranch dressing, which some visitors have described with a mixture of fascination and disbelief as it appears on everything from fries to pizza to salads.
From Salon • Jun. 28, 2026
“Maybe even bigger than that ranch they always talk about in Texas.”
From "Hattie Big Sky" by Kirby Larson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
