badland

noun bad·land \ ˈbad-ˌland \

|Updated on: 11 Aug 2018

Definition of badland

: a region marked by intricate erosional sculpturing, scanty vegetation, and fantastically formed hills —usually used in plural

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Recent Examples of badland from the Web

Photos of its badlands and prairies enchanted me, and the story of Teddy Roosevelt's sojourn there following the deaths of his wife and mother on the same day intrigued me.

— beth j. harpaz, chicagotribune.com, "Badlands and history in Theodore Roosevelt National Park," 5 July 2018
Set in the remote badlands of the Pontic-Caspian steppe in southern Ukraine, Volcano is a poetically surreal love letter to an untamed corner of the Wild East.

— stephen dalton, The Hollywood Reporter, "'Volcano': Film Review | Karlovy Vary 2018," 13 July 2018
Patrolling the badlands in the middle, however, are groups of half-orcs, mounted on their giant war-hogs, including the Grey Bastards, the Orc Stains, the Tusked Tide, the Sons of Perdition.

— tom shippey, WSJ, "Science Fiction: A New Novel Destined to Be a Classic," 28 June 2018
Still, Masten Space Systems is undermanned and underfunded, a ragtag bunch out in the desert, drilling and hammering and soldering in their small badlands garage down the block from the rich folk.

— joe pappalardo, Popular Mechanics, "The Rocket Man Who Wants To Beat the Billionaires," 14 Oct. 2015
The police investigation becomes a western-style manhunt through Mendoza's nocturnal badlands, culminating in a nightmarish thunderstorm showdown which escalates into a full-scale bloodbath.

— stephen dalton, The Hollywood Reporter, "'Murder Me, Monster' ('Muere, monstro, muere'): Film Review | Cannes 2018," 13 May 2018
With the country surrounded by Islamist insurgencies and other civil wars in Chad, South Sudan and the Congo, the spillover from these badlands can fuel — and be fueled by — the region’s chronic instability.

— jack losh, Washington Post, "Rebels in the Central African Republic are filling the void of an absent government," 26 Mar. 2018
Junipers aside, the main draw at the badlands are the rocks.

— OregonLive.com, "Oregon Badlands offer quiet beauty in the high desert," 15 Oct. 2017
But reminders of human occupation do little to change the overwhelming sense of isolation in the badlands.

— OregonLive.com, "Oregon Badlands offer quiet beauty in the high desert," 15 Oct. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'badland.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.