: an isolated relatively flat-topped natural elevation usually more extensive than a butte and less extensive than a plateau
also
: a broad terrace with an abrupt slope on one side : bench
Examples of mesa in a Sentence
a mesa in the Arizona desert
Recent Examples on the Web
Within minutes, guests can be standing beneath the stone arches of Arches National Park, 4 miles away, or surveying mesas and buttes in Canyonlands National Park, 30 miles southwest, where the Colorado and Green rivers have carved the landscape for centuries.
—
Cari Shane, USA Today, 15 Oct. 2025
Instead, tribal members have relied on a single power line that runs roughly 30 miles east and west across high desert punctuated by three distinctive mesas, home to 12 distinct villages, including some of the oldest inhabited communities in the United States.
—Nate Perez, NPR, 7 Oct. 2025
Its height was somewhere between a sheet cake and a candy bar, a mesa of dark cocoa.
—Aisha Muharrar, Bon Appetit Magazine, 2 Oct. 2025
Some via ferratas cling to red rock mesas in the middle of the desert; others hug ledges overlooking alpine forests.
—AFAR Media, 30 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for mesa
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Cari Shane, USA Today, 15 Oct. 2025
Instead, tribal members have relied on a single power line that runs roughly 30 miles east and west across high desert punctuated by three distinctive mesas, home to 12 distinct villages, including some of the oldest inhabited communities in the United States.
—Nate Perez, NPR, 7 Oct. 2025
Its height was somewhere between a sheet cake and a candy bar, a mesa of dark cocoa.
—Aisha Muharrar, Bon Appetit Magazine, 2 Oct. 2025
Some via ferratas cling to red rock mesas in the middle of the desert; others hug ledges overlooking alpine forests.
—AFAR Media, 30 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for mesa
Cite this Entry
“Mesa.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mesa. Accessed 21 Oct. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
mesa
noun
me·sa
ˈmā-sə 
: a flat-topped hill or small plateau with steep sides
Etymology
Spanish, literally, "table"
Geographical Definition
Mesa
geographical name
Me·sa
ˈmā-sə
city east of Phoenix in southwest central Arizona population 439,041
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