plantation

plantation — noun

1. a very large farm where one main crop, such as sugar, tea, or coffee, is grown t

1.nounB2
Definition

a very large farm where one main crop, such as sugar, tea, or coffee, is grown to be sold, often in warm parts of the world.

Example

The tea plantation covers the hills above the small Sri Lankan town.

collocation: tea plantation

In 1850, many workers lived beside the cotton plantation.

historical context: cotton plantation

Common collocations
  • tea plantation
  • coffee plantation
  • sugar plantation
  • cotton plantation
  • banana plantation
Synonyms
  • farm

    the broad everyday word and not necessarily large or focused on one crop

  • estate

    often sounds more formal or historical and stresses the large property

  • orchard

    only fits land growing fruit or nut trees, so it is much narrower

Grammar Patterns

tea / sugar / coffee plantation

work on a plantation

live on a plantation

Usage Note

Often used for very large single-crop estates such as sugar, tea, coffee, or cotton farms, especially in historical writing about colonial settings. Older history books may also use plantation for a settlement established in new territory, but that meaning is outside the main modern learner sense here.

Common Mistakes

My uncle has a small chicken plantation.
My uncle has a small chicken farm.
a plantation is usually a very large place for crops, not a small farm or a place for animals.

2. land used to grow trees in an organized way so they can later be cut for wood.

2.nounC1
Definition

land used to grow trees in an organized way so they can later be cut for wood.

Example

Pine trees on the plantation are cut down every twenty years.

collocation: pine plantation

After the storm, workers cleared broken branches from the plantation road.

Common collocations
  • pine plantation
  • tree plantation
  • forest plantation
  • plantation road
  • plantation wood
Synonyms
  • tree farm

    a plainer modern term, especially in North American English

  • forest plantation

    a near-equivalent technical term for planted forest land

  • timberland

    broader and can include natural woodland, not only planted trees

Antonyms
  • natural forest

    land where the trees grew naturally rather than being planted as a managed crop

Grammar Patterns

pine / tree plantation

plantation for wood production

trees on a plantation

Usage Note

Usually names land that people planted and manage for wood production, not a natural forest. Often modified by a tree name such as pine; distinguish from sense 1, where the planted crop is something like sugar, tea, or coffee.

Common Mistakes

The village is next to a natural plantation.
The village is next to a natural forest.' / 'The village is next to a pine plantation.
a plantation is planted and managed by people, not simply any area of trees.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

For noun/1, plantation names a very large place where one crop is grown for sale, often in warm regions and often with historical associations. Farm is the broad everyday word and can be small or mixed, so it is less specific. Estate can also suggest a large area of land, but it stresses ownership and property more than crop production. Orchard is narrower: it is land where fruit or nut trees are grown, not a general word for sugar, tea, or cotton land. Tree farm is different again, because it usually refers to land where trees are planted for wood, which matches noun/2 rather than noun/1. You might visit a tea plantation, run a mixed vegetable farm, inherit a large estate, or pick apples in an orchard.

farm ↗estate ↗orchard ↗tree farm

Common collocations

Nouns

  • plantation land
  • plantation worker

Phrases

  • work on a plantation
  • live on a plantation

Prepositions

  • on a plantation

Etymology

LatinFrenchEnglish

Plantation goes back to the same word family as plant, which reached English through French from Latin. Early English used it for planting and for land that had been planted. Later it became common for large crop estates, and in older historical writing it could also mean a settlement founded in new territory.