arable

arable — adjective

1. describing land that farmers can plow and plant for crop production.

1.adjectiveC2
Definition

describing land that farmers can plow and plant for crop production.

Example

The valley has wide arable land where local families grow rice.

collocation: arable land

After the flood, only half the village fields were still arable.

predicative use after be

Common collocations
  • arable land
  • arable fields
  • arable farming
  • arable acres
Synonyms
  • cultivable

    very close in meaning, but more formal and often used in technical writing.

  • fertile

    focuses on rich soil that helps plants grow well, not simply on whether land is used for crops.

  • agricultural

    broader; relates to farming in general, not specifically to land fit for crops.

Antonyms
  • barren

    describes land where little or nothing grows.

  • rocky

    often describes ground that is too hard or stony for easy crop growing.

  • uncultivable

    formal opposite for land that cannot be farmed successfully.

Grammar Patterns

arable land

arable fields

be arable

Usage Note

Usually appears with land, field, or farming. In geography and farming contexts, it contrasts with ground used mainly for animals, forest, buildings, or rocky areas where crops cannot be planted well.

Common Mistakes

The goats grazed on arable land all year.
The goats grazed on pasture all year.
arable land is land for growing crops, not land mainly used for animal grazing.
This plant grows in arable.
This plant grows on arable land.
arable is usually an adjective before a noun, not a noun by itself in ordinary use.

Word family

  • arability
    nounC2

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

For this sense, arable is used for land that is suitable for planting crops. Cultivable is very close, but it sounds more technical and often appears in reports or formal writing. Fertile is different: it stresses that the soil is rich and helps plants grow well, so land can be fertile without being used as crop fields. Agricultural is broader still, because it refers to farming in general, including animals, tools, and business, not only to crop land. A plain contrast is useful: arable land near the river, fertile soil after the rain, and an agricultural town with both dairy farms and wheat fields.

arable ↗cultivablefertile ↗agricultural ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

  • arable land
  • arable fields
  • arable farming
  • arable acres

Phrases

  • be arable
  • become arable
  • areas of arable land

Etymology

LatinFrenchEnglish

Arable came into English from French and ultimately from Latin. Its older Latin root meant 'to plow', which explains why the word is tied to land that can be worked for crop growing.