Meaning & use
plantations
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“plantations” is a form of “plantation”. See that entry for the full set of meanings.
Meanings
nouncountable
Large areas of land where crops such as cotton, coffee, or rubber are grown, often in tropical regions.
Grammar: Countable noun; usually used in the plural when referring to multiple estates, but can be singular.
Patterns
- on a plantation
- work on plantations
- own a plantation
Many families in the region have worked on coffee plantations for generations.
The old cotton plantations stretched for miles along the river.
She wrote a book about life on a sugar plantation in the 19th century.
nouncountable
A group of trees or other plants that have been planted together, especially for commercial purposes.
Grammar: Countable noun; often used in the plural for multiple planted areas.
Patterns
- a plantation of trees
- forest plantation
- plant a plantation
The company established new timber plantations to meet demand for wood.
We walked through a dense plantation of pine trees.
These rubber plantations produce latex for tires.
nouncountableAmerican
A large estate or farm, especially in the southern United States, where a single crop was grown by resident workers.
Grammar: Countable noun; often used in historical contexts.
Patterns
- antebellum plantation
- plantation house
- plantation owner
The museum preserves a former plantation house from the 1800s.
Tourists can visit restored plantations along the Mississippi River.
The history of Southern plantations is complex and painful.
Word forms
| singular | plantation |
|---|
Common combinations
- cotton plantation
- The cotton plantation employed hundreds of workers during harvest season.
- coffee plantation
- We toured a coffee plantation in Colombia and tasted fresh beans.
- rubber plantation
- Rubber plantations are common in Southeast Asia.
- sugar plantation
- The island's economy once depended on sugar plantations.
- tree plantation
- The government started a tree plantation to combat deforestation.
- work on a plantation
- Her ancestors worked on a plantation in the 1800s.
Synonyms and how they differ
- estate
- A large area of land, often with a big house, but not necessarily growing a single crop.
- farm
- A general word for land used for growing crops or raising animals; a plantation is usually larger and focused on one crop.
- ranch
- Used mainly for large farms that raise cattle or other livestock, not crops.
Word family
- plantation noun
- Singular form of the same word.
Commonly confused: plantations or plantain?
plantations vs plantain
A type of banana that is cooked before eating; not related to plantations.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'plantations' correctly?
Choose one answer.
Option 0 correctly uses 'plantations' as a plural noun for areas where crops are grown. Option 1 uses 'plantations' as a verb, which is incorrect. Option 2 should be 'plantation house' (singular). Option 3 uses 'a' with a plural noun, which is wrong.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “plantations”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.