A bulldozer is a large and heavy tractor equipped with a substantial metal plate (termed a blade) used to push large quantities of soil, sand, snow, rubble, or similar material during construction or conversion work and typically equipped at the rear with a claw-like device (termed a ripper) to loosen densely compacted materials. Most bulldozer tractors are continuous tracked, also termed a crawler.
Bulldozers can be found on a wide range of sites, mines and quarries, military bases, heavy industry factories, engineering projects, and farms.
The word "bulldozer" correctly refers to only a tractor fitted with a dozer blade. The word is sometimes used inaccurately for other similar construction vehicles such as a front loader.