ranch
Americannoun
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ranches
plural
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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)
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ranches,
present (3rd person singular)
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ranched,
past participle, past
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ranching
present participle
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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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.
See Examples For:
A representative said that the ranch is currently trying to double the size of its herd in order to accommodate the grill’s demands.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2026
She also told the magazine she wishes to retire “and buy a ranch in Wyoming.”
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 10, 2026
In June, he flew to Argentina to celebrate the 100th anniversary of his family’s ranch.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2026
I took a bite of the buttery Texas toast and the crinkle-cut fries, then dipped them into the creamy, peppery Cane’s Sauce, which tasted something like pickled ranch.
From Slate ● Aug. 24, 2026
Once in a while Papá did some light work for Bonetti, the owner of the ranch, to help pay the rent, but as time passed we fell further and further behind on the monthly payments.
From "Breaking Through" by Francisco Jiménez
Ken Boulay, the CEO of the Turtle Island Restoration Network, said it’s time to move forward and imagine what the park could be like without cattle and private ranches.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026
Watch the video above to explore how the myth of the American cowboy became a global obsession, from the ranches of Oklahoma to a Tokyo honky-tonk.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 4, 2026
“God bless her. She let me go out and live on ranches and run with other people to get away from him.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 24, 2026
When it came to buying ranches, “price never really got in the way for Ted,” Taylor said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 8, 2026
His father is our father's brother, Tío Orlando, who has a half dozen children from una mujer del campo, a woman from the countryside around one of his ranches.
From "How the García Girls Lost Their Accents" by Julia Alvarez
And now that anything can be ranched, everything is getting ranched.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026
In the 1880s, Theodore Roosevelt hunted and ranched as a young man in the Badlands of what is now western North Dakota.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 25, 2023
When Letseoma was growing up in this house, her father had farmed and ranched and had owned horses, cattle, sheep, and chickens.
From Slate ● Jan. 29, 2021
Mormons later farmed and ranched on the lush landscape.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 19, 2020
As Grandpa got older he ranched less and farmed more, until one day he stopped farming.
From "Educated" by Tara Westover
That was the number of ranching families whose property was on the path needed for “Running Fence.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026
“Yak ranching is growing, but it’s still a niche market,” she said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 8, 2026
The show depicts the power struggles between patriarch John Dutton III, his children, the locals, and the outsiders seeking to change their bucolic ranching way of life.
From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2026
The U.S. urgently needs a cattle policy worthy of its ranching tradition.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 30, 2026
In the dusty business of ranching he seemed always immaculate.
From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck
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.
