land
noun
any part of the earth's surface not covered by a body of water; the part of the earth's surface occupied by continents and islands.
land
1 American
[land]
/ lænd /
noun
-
lands
plural
-
any part of the earth's surface not covered by a body of water; the part of the earth's surface occupied by continents and islands.
Land was sighted from the crow's nest.
-
an area of ground with reference to its nature or composition.
arable land.
-
an area of ground with specific boundaries.
to buy land on which to build a house.
-
rural or farming areas, as contrasted with urban areas.
They left the land for the city.
-
Law.
-
any part of the earth's surface that can be owned as property, and everything annexed to it, whether by nature or by the human hand.
-
any legal interest held in land.
-
-
Economics. natural resources as a factor of production.
-
a part of the surface of the earth marked off by natural or political boundaries or the like; a region or country.
They came from many lands.
-
the people of a region or country
-
Audio. the flat surface between the grooves of a phonograph record.
-
a realm or domain.
the land of the living.
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a surface between furrows, as on a millstone or on the interior of a rifle barrel.
-
Scot. a tenement house.
verb (used with object)
-
lands,
present (3rd person singular)
-
landed,
past participle, past
-
landing
present participle
-
to bring to or set on land.
to land passengers or goods from a ship; to land an airplane.
-
to bring into or cause to arrive in a particular place, position, or condition.
His behavior will land him in jail.
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Informal. to catch or capture; gain; win.
to land a job.
-
Angling. to bring (a fish) to land, or into a boat, etc., as with a hook or a net.
verb (used without object)
-
lands,
present (3rd person singular)
-
landed,
past participle, past
-
landing
present participle
-
to come to land or shore.
The boat lands at Cherbourg.
-
to go or come ashore from a ship or boat.
-
to alight upon a surface, as the ground, a body of water, or the like.
to land on both feet.
-
to hit or strike the ground, as from a height.
The ball landed at the far side of the court.
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to strike and come to rest on a surface or in something.
The golf ball landed in the lake.
-
to come to rest or arrive in a particular place, position, or condition (sometimes followed byup ).
to land in trouble; to land up 40 miles from home.
verb phrase
idioms
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land / fall on one's feet, feet.
-
see how the land lies, to investigate in advance; inform oneself of the facts of a situation before acting.
You should see how the land lies before making a formal proposal.
Land
2
American
[land]
/ lænd /
noun
-land
3
American
land
1
British
/ lænd /
noun
-
the solid part of the surface of the earth as distinct from seas, lakes, etc
-
-
ground, esp with reference to its use, quality, etc
-
( in combination )
land-grabber
-
-
rural or agricultural areas as contrasted with urban ones
-
farming as an occupation or way of life
-
law
-
any tract of ground capable of being owned as property, together with any buildings on it, extending above and below the surface
-
any hereditament, tenement, or other interest; realty
-
-
-
a country, region, or area
-
the people of a country, etc
-
-
a realm, sphere, or domain
-
economics the factor of production consisting of all natural resources
-
the unindented part of a grooved surface, esp one of the ridges inside a rifle bore
-
the prevailing conditions or state of affairs
verb
-
to transfer (something) or go from a ship or boat to the shore
land the cargo
-
(intr) to come to or touch shore
-
to come down or bring (something) down to earth after a flight or jump
-
to come or bring to some point, condition, or state
-
(tr) angling to retrieve (a hooked fish) from the water
-
informal (tr) to win or obtain
to land a job
-
informal (tr) to deliver (a blow)
Land
2
British
/ lant /
noun
Land
3
British
/ lænd /
noun
land
More Idioms
Usage
What does -land mean? The combining form -land is used like a suffix meaning “land.” It is occasionally used in everyday and technical terms. The form -land comes from Old English.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
landsimple
-
landssimple
-
have landedperfect
-
has landedperfect
-
am landingprogressive
-
are landingprogressive
-
is landingprogressive
-
have been landingperfect progressive
-
has been landingperfect progressive
Past
-
landedsimple
-
had landedperfect
-
was landingprogressive
-
were landingprogressive
-
had been landingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of land
First recorded before 900; Middle English, Old English; cognate with Dutch, German, Old Norse, Gothic land; akin to Irish lann “open space,” Welsh llan “church” (originally “enclosure”), Breton lann “heath.” See lawn 1
Explanation
Use the noun land to talk about the solid ground under your feet. It's nice to put your feet on dry land after a long trip in a sailboat. People who are afraid of flying are usually overjoyed to land on the land after hours in the sky — land is also a verb meaning "to settle down on the ground." You can use the word land, as well, to describe a government or ruler's territory: "He rules over the land between those mountains and the rocky coast." The words for land are the same in English, German, and Dutch, as the root is the Germanic landom.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Isaias hit the Florida coast on Saturday as a Category 2 storm, before weakening rapidly over land.
From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2026
Four months later, Paxton’s family trust purchased an oceanview lot in a residential neighborhood there for $410,000, land records show.
From Salon ● Oct. 11, 2026
"Some company came and, without showing any respect, they took the land and we accepted it," the 50-year-old said.
From Barron's ● Oct. 11, 2026
They moved to Nebraska - which enjoys lush land and the most groundwater in the nation - to strike out on their own.
From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2026
Even if there were a doctor among the land rushers, they’d be journeying on.
From "Will’s Race for Home" by Jewell Parker Rhodes
Land prices have risen by an average of "more than 45 percent" since the city unveiled its development plans, said E. Ashok Kumar, Visakhapatnam head of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers' Associations of India.
From Barron's ● Oct. 11, 2026
Land acknowledgements statements, agnosticism, the utility of college education and mixed-race families in commercials all get a moment in the over-stuffed script by Kyle Rankin.
From Salon ● Oct. 7, 2026
Dealers openly lean in to the resemblance to Range Rover, which is owned by Jaguar Land Rover, a subsidiary of India’s Tata Motors.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026
There is a moment in the 1939 film 'The Wizard of Oz' where Dorothy swaps her monochrome world for glorious, eye-opening technicolour the minute she touches down in the Land of Oz.
From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2026
The next few days she joined Farmer and the medical team in the Land Rover.
From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French
"We have large, sizable, fertile -land and good water," says Shihab.
From Time Magazine Archive
Shells, colour of, affected by light. -from Van Diemen's land. -land, extinct, at St. Helena. -particles of, drifted by the wind at St. Helena.
From Volcanic Islands by Charles Darwin
"Seeing the condition of the recently burned lands... we didn't dare to gamble and assume he'll survive."
From Barron's ● Oct. 9, 2026
One challenge is understanding what happens when a spacecraft lands.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 8, 2026
If diesel stays high, the bill for all three lands where you shop, save and borrow.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 7, 2026
So often are these charges true that it can feel shocking when we encounter conceptual work that truly lands, that elevates its subject matter in a way that makes it deeply resonant without preaching.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026
The marshy lands were as quiet and out of the way as Seven remembered.
From "Witchlings" by Claribel A. Ortega
Lewis, a proud Welsh speaker from Neath, started translating some of her favourite tunes in 2024, landed on the Parton classic and recorded a video of herself singing it.
From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026
A rescue helicopter landed nearby and located Seibert’s body, the search team wrote.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2026
Mestemaker landed a two-year NIL deal worth more than $7 million to go to the Cowboys.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026
After a more than 27-hour return journey, the Dragon capsule carrying Crew-12 landed safely in the Pacific Ocean, according to space agency NASA's live broadcast.
From Barron's ● Oct. 8, 2026
Danny asked, and flicked away a winged black beetle that landed on his shoulder.
From "The Way to Rio Luna" by Zoraida Cordova
Standing alongside legendary astronauts like Neil Armstrong and Dick Gordon, a schoolboy from Lancashire was there to see the final manned lunar landing mission.
From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2026
Vizag is a landing point for submarine internet cables linking the country to Singapore, so for India, the location of the 600-acre site -- more than 340 football pitches -- is ideal.
From Barron's ● Oct. 11, 2026
That translates to the flu season landing about seven weeks earlier than in 2025 or 2024.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 9, 2026
It isn’t about landing a late-night talk show, it is about creating.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026
I got slowly into my clothes and stepped out onto the landing.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
