agrarian
agrarian — adjective
1. describing anything that has to do with farms, crops, or how farmland is owned,
describing anything that has to do with farms, crops, or how farmland is owned, divided, or worked.
The new minister promised sweeping agrarian reforms to give small farmers a fair share of the land.
common collocation: agrarian reform / agrarian reforms
Professor Lin teaches a course on agrarian history, focusing on rice paddies in southern Taiwan.
attributive: agrarian + abstract noun (history, policy, system)
The novel describes life on a quiet agrarian estate where every family kept goats and chickens.
Heavy rain in June ruined the harvest and triggered an agrarian crisis across three provinces.
Mei Lin grew up in an agrarian village where her grandparents still ploughed the fields by hand.
- agricultural
more common everyday word; 'agrarian' sounds more academic and often points to land ownership or rural politics
- farming
plain word used as a modifier (farming community); less formal than 'agrarian'
- rural
describes the countryside in general, not specifically tied to crops or farms
- industrial
describes economies or societies built on factories and manufacturing rather than farms
- urban
describes city life, the opposite of rural farming life
文法句型
agrarian + noun
用法筆記
Almost always used before a noun (agrarian reform, agrarian policy, agrarian society). Rarely used after the verb 'be'. Typical nouns it modifies are abstract: reform, system, history, crisis, policy.
常見錯誤
2. describing a place, country, or community whose income and daily life depend mai
describing a place, country, or community whose income and daily life depend mainly on growing crops and raising animals, not on factories or services.
Before the railroads arrived, Iowa was a deeply agrarian state where almost everyone grew corn or wheat.
agrarian + state / region / country to describe an economy
Vietnam shifted from an agrarian economy to a manufacturing one within two generations.
common collocation: agrarian economy
The textbook compares agrarian societies in Japan and France during the eighteenth century.
Most villagers still live an agrarian life, waking before dawn to feed the cows and water the rice.
- agricultural
broader and more neutral; an agricultural economy and an agrarian economy mean nearly the same thing, but 'agrarian' suggests a more traditional, pre-industrial way of life
- rural
describes a quiet countryside setting, but not always built on farming as the main income
- pre-industrial
stresses the time period before factories rather than the farming activity itself
- industrialised
an economy that has shifted from farms to factories and machines
- urbanised
a society where most people live in cities rather than farming villages
文法句型
agrarian + place noun (society, economy, country, region)
用法筆記
Distinguish from sense 1: this sense describes the whole economic character of a place or community ('agrarian society', 'agrarian economy'), while sense 1 modifies abstract topics tied to farming and land ('agrarian reform', 'agrarian policy'). Subject is usually a country, region, or community.
常見錯誤
agrarian — noun
1. a person who belongs to a political group or movement that fights for the rights
a person who belongs to a political group or movement that fights for the rights of farmers and for fairer rules about owning farmland.
In the 1890s, American agrarians joined together to demand cheaper loans and lower train fares for farmers.
plural use: agrarians + verb
Hugo Chen called himself an agrarian and fought to keep village land out of corporate hands.
singular use: an agrarian
The new party drew support from agrarians in the rice-growing south.
Many agrarians felt betrayed when the government cancelled the promised land redistribution programme.
- agrarianist
very rare variant; same political meaning
- populist
broader political label that often included agrarians in the United States, but covers other groups too
- industrialist
someone whose interests lie with factories and manufacturing, often opposed to farming politics
文法句型
a/an + agrarian
agrarians + plural verb
用法筆記
Rare in everyday English; mostly appears in history books, political writing, or academic articles. Often used in the plural ('the agrarians') to name a group sharing the same political views.