TRACT
What does "TRACT" mean?
A large area of land, a system of connected organs, or a short pamphlet on a single subject.
Meanings
- A large stretch or expanse of land. They bought a wide tract of forest to protect it.
- A bundle of nerve fibers or a system of connected organs with a shared function. Vitamins are absorbed in the digestive tract. technical
- A short written treatise or pamphlet, often religious or political. He handed out tracts on the street corner.
Did you know?
- The two 'tracts' are not really one word: a tract of land stretches from Latin 'tractus' (an expanse), while a religious tract is a clipped 'tractatus' (a treatise) - homonyms that converged by accident.
Word origin
From Latin 'tractus', 'a stretching, drawing out, extent', from 'trahere', 'to draw or drag'; the pamphlet sense is a separate shortening of Latin 'tractatus', 'a treatise'.
Remember it
TRACT is what trACTors cross (a tract of land) and what aCTivists hand out (a tract); both 'draw out' - one land, one argument.
A little poem
A long tract of land,
a long tract of argument-
both stretch past the eye.
haiku
Wordplay
- The preacher inherited a huge tract of land and immediately wrote a pamphlet about it. Now he owns two kinds of tract and can't tell them apart.
What it teaches
A wide tract and a written tract share one verb: to stretch. An idea, like a field, is only worth what you can extend across it.
Quick facts
What does TRACT mean?
A large area of land, a system of connected organs, or a short pamphlet on a single subject.
Is TRACT a valid word?
Yes — TRACT is one of the answer words in Wordul, the daily word game.
How many letters is TRACT?
TRACT has 5 letters and 1 syllable.
Where does TRACT come from?
From Latin 'tractus', 'a stretching, drawing out, extent', from 'trahere', 'to draw or drag'; the pamphlet sense is a separate shortening of Latin 'tractatus', 'a treatise'.
What can TRACT teach us?
A wide tract and a written tract share one verb: to stretch. An idea, like a field, is only worth what you can extend across it.
How players do
Be the first to solve it.