Meaning & use
acre
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Meanings
nouncountable
A unit of land area used mainly in the US and the UK, equal to 4,840 square yards or about 4,047 square meters.
Grammar: Countable: one acre, two acres. Often used after a number: a 50-acre farm.
Patterns
- an acre of land
- X acres of something
- a X-acre farm/field
They bought five acres of farmland outside the city.
The house sits on half an acre of land.
The wildfire burned more than 10,000 acres of forest.
nouncountableinformal
A very large amount of something, especially when compared with what is usual or expected.
Grammar: Usually in the plural: acres of something. Informal and often slightly critical.
Patterns
- acres of something
There were acres of empty seats at the stadium.
She has acres of clothes but still says she has nothing to wear.
Word forms
| plural | acres |
|---|
Common combinations
- an acre of land
- They own an acre of land behind the school.
- acres of farmland
- The family has 200 acres of farmland in Iowa.
- a 10-acre plot
- They are building houses on a 10-acre plot.
- per acre
- The yield is about 150 bushels per acre.
- half an acre
- The garden is about half an acre.
Synonyms and how they differ
- hectare
- A metric unit of area equal to 10,000 square meters, used in most countries; an acre is smaller, about 0.4 hectare.
Commonly confused: acre or hectare?
acre vs hectare
A hectare is a metric unit (10,000 square meters); an acre is an imperial unit (about 4,047 square meters). Don't mix them up when reading about land.
Practice
The property includes two ___ of woodland.
Choose one answer.
After a number greater than one, use the plural 'acres'. 'Acre' is singular and would need 'a' or 'one'. 'Acres of' is already followed by a noun, so it doesn't fit here. 'Acre's' is possessive and doesn't make sense.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “acre”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.