Definition of prairie
1 : land in or predominantly in grass
2 : a tract of grassland: such asa : a large area of level or rolling land in the Mississippi River valley that in its natural uncultivated state usually has deep fertile soil, a cover of tall coarse grasses, and few treesb : one of the dry treeless plateaus east of the Rocky Mountains that merge on their east side with the prairies proper and are characterized by shorter grasses and drier less fertile soil
From the M-W Editors
Examples of prairie in a Sentence
Millions of buffalo once roamed the prairies.
The train tracks extend over miles of prairie.
Recent Examples of prairie from the Web
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Meet the snakes ▪ Western rattlesnake: Rattlesnakes (the Western and less common prairie) are the only poisonous snakes in Idaho.
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The herd of 27 — four bulls and 23 cows — were first introduced to the prairie in October 2015, and have grown to about 50, with more babies expected to be born through June, said Veronica Hinke, Midewin spokeswoman.
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Rich Harvest Farms is deep in the wetlands that occupy the prairies of Illinois.
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Debris covered a terrain that ranged from the urban prairie flatlands near Dallas to the hilly pine woods of Louisiana, mostly turning up in tiny blue-collar towns that survive on farming and timber.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'prairie'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Origin and Etymology of prairie
French, from Old French praierie, from Vulgar Latin *prataria, from Latin pratum meadow
Other Ecology Terms
PRAIRIE Defined for English Language Learners
prairie
playDefinition of prairie for English Language Learners
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: a large, mostly flat area of land in North America that has few trees and is covered in grasses
PRAIRIE Defined for Kids
prairie
playDefinition of prairie for Students
: a large area of level or rolling grassland
Learn More about prairie
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See words that rhyme with prairie Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for prairie Spanish Central: Translation of prairie Nglish: Translation of prairie for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of prairie for Arabic speakers Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about prairie
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