: a tenant farmer especially in the southern U.S. who is provided with credit for seed, tools, living quarters, and food, who works the land, and who receives an agreed share of the value of the crop minus charges

Examples of sharecropper in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Black sharecroppers and tenant farmers were plotting an insurrection. Christmaelle Vernet & Kathy Roberts Forde / Made By History, TIME, 28 Feb. 2025 She was born in the 1890s, daughter of sharecroppers, grew up quite poor but was incredibly ambitious, very intelligent. Sara Ivry, JSTOR Daily, 19 Feb. 2025 Her father was a sharecropper — and later, a knitting mill worker — who played fiddle and gave voice lessons at the local Methodist church. Bill Friskics-Warren, New York Times, 19 Jan. 2025 Come evening, check into the 52-unit Shack Up Inn, which comprises a collection of former sharecroppers’ cabins surrounded by farm equipment and literal tumbleweeds. Emma John, AFAR Media, 7 Jan. 2025 See All Example Sentences for sharecropper

Word History

First Known Use

1871, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of sharecropper was in 1871

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Sharecropper.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sharecropper. Accessed 31 Mar. 2025.

Kids Definition

sharecropper

noun
: a farmer who works land for the owner in return for a share of the value of the crop

More from Merriam-Webster on sharecropper

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!