Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The quality or state of being pastoral. Used especially of a literary work.
  • noun A social and economic system based on the raising and herding of livestock.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Pastoral character; that which possesses, suggests, or confers a pastoral or rural character.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun the state of being pastoral
  • noun animal husbandry; the raising and herding of farm animals

Etymologies

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Examples

  • In this he'll recognize a strange variation, but a variation all the same, on the good old "pastoralism" — inherited from eighteenth-century English landscape architecture — that played such a large role in the formation of American ideology.

    In the Footsteps of Tocqueville (Part Three) Bernard-Henri L 2005

  • In this he'll recognize a strange variation, but a variation all the same, on the good old "pastoralism" — inherited from eighteenth-century English landscape architecture — that played such a large role in the formation of American ideology.

    In the Footsteps of Tocqueville (Part Three) Bernard-Henri L 2005

  • Your post and subsequent comments on "pastoralism" are certainly thought provoking.

    Farm Fetish Rogers 2006

  • Pastorals of the most interesting kind actually exist in literature: "pastoralism" in the abstract, unless treated in the pure historical manner, is apt, like all similar criticism and discussion of

    A History of the French Novel, Vol. 1 From the Beginning to 1800 George Saintsbury 1889

  • They made their living through pastoralism, brigandage, and export of the few resources they had to offer, including pistachios and lapis lazuli—the Hindu Kush being the only known source for this precious blue stone in the ancient world.

    Alexander the Great Philip Freeman 2011

  • Ancient pastoralism was the foundation of the economy and it was practiced largely from isolated hilltop villages scattered throughout the land.

    Alexander the Great Philip Freeman 2011

  • Ancient pastoralism was the foundation of the economy and it was practiced largely from isolated hilltop villages scattered throughout the land.

    Alexander the Great Philip Freeman 2011

  • We must change the way we live because pastoralism is no longer viable, and we have to look at other ways of livelihood, said Murugi.

    Kenya Minister ‘Satisfied’ With Effort to Combat Drought, Famine 2011

  • They made their living through pastoralism, brigandage, and export of the few resources they had to offer, including pistachios and lapis lazuli—the Hindu Kush being the only known source for this precious blue stone in the ancient world.

    Alexander the Great Philip Freeman 2011

  • He says one of the problems in East Africa is that people rely mostly on pastoralism.

    Agencies Seek Immediate, Long-Term Solutions for Horn of Africa 2011

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