Join free

astroturf

English · Thesaurus

AI In plain words

Writing a short explanation…

Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.

AstroTurf¹

  • /ˈæstɹoʊˌtɝf/ US

Where it comes from

From astro- + turf, from its namesake trademark, in turn a reference to the Astrodome stadium in Houston, the first major sports venue to install artificial turf in 1966. The venue was named by its developer Roy Hofheinz, presumably a reference to the emerging identity of Houston as Space City.

Originally marketed as ChemGrass.

noun Astroturf · astroturf

  1. uncountable A synthetic material used in sports grounds as a durable substitute for natural grass. And then there's AstroTurf. Invented in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, and patented by Monsanto in 1965, AstroTurf is the world's first synthetic turf used as a sports playing surface, coming to fame—and its name—when it was put into the Houston Astrodome in 1966.

    Similar: artificial turf

  2. US, alternative, uncountable Alternative form of Astroturf

astroturf²

verb astroturfs · astroturfing · astroturfed

  1. Alternative letter-case form of Astroturf

noun astroturfs

  1. Alternative letter-case form of AstroTurf

Astroturf³

Where it comes from

See AstroTurf and astroturfing.

verb Astroturfs · Astroturfing · Astroturfed · astroturf

  1. transitive To cover with an artificial grasslike material. But what was there left to Astroturf? The sitting-room? Hugh's bald patch?
  2. lowercase, transitive, usually To fabricate an impression of political support for an agenda. We have been Astroturfed by some of the biggest players in the business. As you will read in the coming pages, a reasonable-sounding group called Americans for Balanced Energy Choices spent us$40 million during the last presidential[…]

adjective more Astroturf · most Astroturf · astroturf

  1. Of a group created by a larger organisation (especially a corporation or political party), but presenting itself as a grassroots organisation. Can we assure readers that astroturf letters will not appear as letters in The Star? Unfortunately, no. At least a dozen Web sites from which astroturf can be generated have been identified. Many more exist.

noun Astroturfs · astroturf

  1. US A campaign designed to appear like a genuine popular (or grassroots) movement, that does not have such popular support. An Astroturf campaign is a fake grassroots movement: it purports to be a spontaneous uprising of concerned citizens, but in reality it is founded and funded by elite interests. Some Astroturf campaigns have no grassroots component at all. Others catalyse and direct real mobilisations.
  2. Alternative letter-case form of AstroTurf

Talk about this word

Cite this
MLA

"astroturf." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/astroturf. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

astroturf. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/astroturf

Chicago

"astroturf." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/astroturf.

BibTeX
@misc{astroturf_2026,
  title = {astroturf},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/astroturf},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}