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Well-read · Nature & weather

Fallow: meaning, pronunciation and examples

Fallow adjective. Of farmland, ploughed but left unsown for a season so the soil can recover.

How to say it

FAL-oh/ˈfæləʊ/

2 syllables, stressed on the first (FAL).

Meanings

  1. Of farmland, ploughed but left unsown for a season so the soil can recover.
  2. Quiet and unproductive for a while.

Fallow in a sentence

The farmer leaves one field fallow each year so the soil can rest.

After the book came out she had a fallow spell and wrote nothing for months.

Similar and opposite

Similar:

  • uncultivated
  • unsown
  • resting
  • idle

Opposite:

  • cultivated
  • productive

Where fallow comes from

From Old English fealh, ploughed land.

Test yourself

Which word fills the gap?

After the book came out she had a _____ spell and wrote nothing for months.

  • fallow
  • fluvial
  • bucolic
Show the answer

fallow: After the book came out she had a fallow spell and wrote nothing for months.