Meaning & use
ranch
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Meanings
nouncountableAmerican
A large farm, especially in western North America, where cattle or horses are raised.
Grammar: Countable: a cattle ranch, several ranches.
Patterns
- on a ranch
- a ranch in a place
My uncle runs a cattle ranch in Montana.
We spent the summer working on a horse ranch.
The ranch covers thousands of acres of open grassland.
nouncountable
A farm that raises one kind of animal or crop, such as mink or fish.
Grammar: Usually preceded by the kind of animal: a fish ranch, an ostrich ranch.
The ostrich ranch near town offers weekend tours.
Their salmon ranch supplies local restaurants.
A fox ranch once stood on the hill.
noununcountableAmericaninformal
A creamy salad dressing flavored with herbs and buttermilk.
Grammar: Often short for ranch dressing: she asked for ranch on the side.
Could I get some ranch with these carrot sticks?
He puts ranch on his pizza, which his friends find odd.
The kids dipped their fries in ranch.
Word forms
| plural | ranches |
|---|
Common combinations
- cattle ranch
- He inherited a cattle ranch from his grandfather.
- dude ranch
- We stayed at a dude ranch and learned to ride.
- work on a ranch
- She worked on a ranch every summer.
- ranch house
- They bought a one-story ranch house with a big yard.
- ranch hand
- The ranch hand fixed the fence at dawn.
- ranch dressing
- Ranch dressing goes well with celery.
Synonyms and how they differ
- farm
- Farm is the general word for land used to grow crops or raise animals, while ranch suggests big open grazing land for livestock.
- homestead
- Homestead stresses the settler's house and land, not its size or livestock.
- spread
- Spread is informal, mostly American, and means a big ranch or property.
- station
- Station is the Australian word for a large sheep or cattle property.
Word family
Commonly confused: ranch or rancid?
ranch vs rancid
Rancid means spoiled and bad-smelling, usually of fats and oils; it only looks like ranch.
Practice
Which place would most likely raise thousands of cattle on open grassland?
Choose one answer.
A ranch is a large farm for livestock such as cattle. The other places are not used for raising animals.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “ranch”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.