Meaning & use
dude ranch
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountable
A holiday farm in the American West where guests ride horses and do ranch activities.
Grammar: Countable: a dude ranch, two dude ranches.
Patterns
- stay at a dude ranch
- go to a dude ranch
They spent a week at a dude ranch in Montana, riding horses every morning.
My parents booked a dude ranch for the whole family last summer.
A dude ranch is a good choice if you want a holiday that keeps the kids active.
Word forms
| plural | dude ranches |
|---|
Common combinations
- stay at a dude ranch
- We stayed at a dude ranch near the mountains.
- a working dude ranch
- It is a working dude ranch, so guests help with the cattle.
- book a dude ranch
- She booked a dude ranch for their anniversary.
- a dude ranch holiday
- A dude ranch holiday is not cheap, but it is memorable.
Synonyms and how they differ
- guest ranch
- The more neutral term, common in British English and in advertising.
- holiday farm
- A British term for a farm that takes paying guests, often without horses.
Word family
- dude noun
- Informal American word for a man or a city visitor; also used in the compound.
- rancher noun
- A person who owns or runs a ranch.
- ranching noun
- The activity of running a ranch.
Commonly confused: dude ranch or ranch?
dude ranch vs ranch
A ranch is just a large farm for cattle or horses; a dude ranch is one that takes paying holiday guests.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'dude ranch' correctly?
Choose one answer.
A dude ranch is a holiday farm in the West where guests ride and do ranch work, so option 2 fits. Option 1 describes a normal farm business, and option 4 wrongly uses the phrase as a job title.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “dude ranch”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.