mesa

noun me·sa \ ˈmā-sə \

|Updated on: 21 Jun 2018

Definition of mesa

: 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

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Examples of mesa in a Sentence

a mesa in the Arizona desert

Recent Examples of mesa from the Web

Rifts and mesas lifted, fell, vanished, then reappeared.

— porter fox, Outside Online, "Exploring America's Forgotten Border," 1 June 2018
Also: The spare but expensive boutique hotel furnishings of the observation pod were a gorgeous visual change-up from the dusty mesa locales of the park.

— william lee, chicagotribune.com, "‘Westworld’ Episode 4 recap: 5 things to know about ‘The Riddle of the Sphinx’," 14 May 2018
Autopsies also were performed on co-pilot Paul Cobb and wealthy businessman Charles Burnett III - also killed in the crash on a grassy mesa top east of Raton.

— CBS News, "Pilot in crash that killed Zimbabwean opposition leader had fentanyl in system, autopsy says," 11 May 2018
Lake Powell, Horseshoe Bend, some mesa or another sitting on nearly every point of the horizon.

— Popular Mechanics, "55 Things to Do Before the World Ends," 19 Apr. 2018
My grandmother had a five-inch tall plastic version of him on her mesa blanca.

— sarah betancourt, Longreads, "The Religion No One Talks About: My Search For Answers in an Old Caribbean Faith," 30 Mar. 2018
The automobile tracks, made over a wide circle of about half a mile, told how the body in its burlap wrapping had been taken to the mesa.

— sandiegouniontribune.com, "Body of girl found; hunt for fiend," 11 Mar. 2018
This craggy basalt mesa is, per its name, flat as a tabletop, but in spring vastly more beautiful, dotted with leafing-out oaks and brilliant with lupine and poppies and vernal pools that reflect the sky.

— peter fish, San Francisco Chronicle, "Road trip along Sierra Nevada’s Feather River," 16 Mar. 2018
The whole scheme, from the first, contemplated the construction of a dam in the San Diego river and a wooden flume from it, to convey the water to a suitable point for distribution in the city and on the high mesa grounds in the immediate vicinity.

— sandiegouniontribune.com, "Here comes the flume," 22 Feb. 2018

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