Landowning

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Having ownership or possession of land or real estate property
2. The state or condition of holding legal title to a parcel of land
3. The possession of land as property, usually implying rights and control over it

Etymology: "Landowning" is a plain compound of "land" and "owning," the present participle of "own," used here as an adjective. Its history is simply that of its two parts: "land" comes from Old English "land," and "own" comes from Old English "ágen," the past participle of "agan" (to possess), which in its adjectival sense came to mean "belonging to oneself." Put together, the word describes people or groups who hold property in land, and it is the kind of transparent formation English produces readily whenever a descriptive adjective is needed for a particular social class or activity.

Synonyms: property owning, landholding

Antonyms: landless