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Glite Dictionary
Agriculture Department

Agriculture Department

10 3.0
A part of the United States government that makes and enforces rules about farming and food
  • noun
  • /ˈæɡrɪˌkʌltʃər dɪˈpɑrtmənt/
  • Formal
translation icon : Departamento de Agricultura de EE. UU.
  • Farmers rely heavily on the Agriculture Department for financial assistance and resources.

And this woman is given the keys to the Admiral, to the Agriculture Department.

Examples

  • According to the agriculture department's report, the number of people in that worst category has nearly doubled from just a decade earlier.

    Blog text (17)

  • An Agriculture Department spokesman acknowledged that...

    Fire in the Sky (1993)

  • 80% of the Agriculture Department funding is for food stamps.

    Blog text (4)

  • Cason had been chosen for a position in the Agriculture Department by the first Bush administration, but the nomination was withdrawn when it became clear he would not be confirmed.

    Academic text (2002)

  • The United States Agriculture Department (USDA) has already declared more than 1,000 counties in 26 states natural-disaster areas due to drought conditions.

    Blog text (9)

  • The U.S. Agriculture Department is working on new policies to support organic farming practices.

  • The Agriculture Department conducts research to improve crop yields and food safety standards.

Synonyms

USDA
vsAgriculture Department
53 3.2

A US government department that helps farmers and manages food programs

is the same organization named by its full formal title instead of the abbreviation
Department of Agriculture
vsAgriculture Department
  • Formal
28 3.0

A United States government department that makes and runs programs for farming, food safety, and rural communities

focuses on making and carrying out farming and food policy rather than research

Surface Forms

Agriculture Department singular
Agriculture Departments plural

Morphology

agriculture + department

The meaning is directly and compositionally derived from 'agriculture' (farming/cultivation) + 'department' (an organizational unit), so a B1 learner who knows both words will infer it refers to the government unit responsible for farming/food policy. This construction is cross-linguistically common (e.g. 'Ministry/Department of Agriculture'), so it is immediately understandable even if specifics like 'federal' or the acronym USDA are not predictable.

Etymology

Agriculture Department comes from joining agriculture (farming and food) and department (a part of government). It began as a government office to help farmers and set rules about food, so today it means the government body that makes farming and food policy, like the 'USDA'.