unfarmable
Can't grow crops
Unfarmable describes land that cannot be cultivated for crops—too rocky, steep, arid, or otherwise unsuitable for agriculture: The mountainside was beautiful but unfarmable.
The term applies to terrain that resists even determined efforts at cultivation, whether due to soil quality, climate, or topography.
Bleak and abandoned
- lifelessDevoid of animation
- unproductiveFailing to achieve results
- bleakDreary and without cheer
- emptyHolding nothing inside
sterile · inhospitable · unyielding · impoverished · unfertile · unfruitful · fruitless · bare
Covered with stones
- steepRising at sharp angle
- mountainousHaving many peaks
- cliffyHaving steep rock faces
- craggyRough with rocky projections
inaccessible · waterlogged · marshy · swampy · permafrost · tundra · glacial · flooded
To leave behind completely
- droughtProlonged water scarcity
- parchedExtremely dry or thirsty
- sunbakedDried by solar heat
- dustbowlDrought-stricken eroded region
dryland · desiccated · scorched · baked · thirsty · evaporated · bone-dry · rainless
Made impure by contact
- pollutedMade impure by contaminants
- radioactiveEmitting nuclear decay particles
- blightedHarmed by destructive force
- taintedContaminated, made impure
poisoned · industrial · brownfield · leached · acidified · ruined · hazardous · unusable
desolate
Bleak and abandoned
- lifelessDevoid of animation
- unproductiveFailing to achieve results
- bleakDreary and without cheer
empty · sterile · inhospitable · unyielding · impoverished · unfertile · unfruitful · fruitless · bare · stark
rocky
Covered with stones
- steepRising at sharp angle
- mountainousHaving many peaks
- cliffyHaving steep rock faces
craggy · inaccessible · waterlogged · marshy · swampy · permafrost · tundra · glacial · flooded · eroded
desert
To leave behind completely
dustbowl · dryland · desiccated · scorched · baked · thirsty · evaporated · bone-dry · rainless · hardpan
contaminated
Made impure by contact
- pollutedMade impure by contaminants
- radioactiveEmitting nuclear decay particles
- blightedHarmed by destructive force
tainted · poisoned · industrial · brownfield · leached · acidified · ruined · hazardous · unusable