steppe

\ ˈstep

How to pronounce steppe (audio)

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Definition of steppe

1 : one of the vast usually level and treeless tracts in southeastern Europe or Asia

2 : arid land with xerophilous vegetation found usually in regions of extreme temperature range and loess soil

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Examples of steppe in a Sentence

nomads have long grazed yaks on the steppes of Mongolia

Recent Examples on the Web That's just enough to drop the far side of the spacecraft's orbit deep into the atmosphere, setting up a landing on the snowy steppe of Kazakhstan. — William Harwood, CBS News, "Christina Koch heads home, setting new record for female astronauts," 5 Feb. 2020 At stake are 250 million acres of grassland, steppe, desert, and forest that BLM oversees, along with the agency’s 700 million subsurface acres, rich with oil and gas and hard-rock minerals. — Christopher Ketcham, The New Republic, "The Trump Official Who Could Obliterate Public Lands," 3 Feb. 2020 The scandal also highlights a tectonic shift underway in the economics and geopolitics of Central Asia, a vast, resource-rich expanse of desert, steppe and mountains that Russia has viewed as its turf for centuries. — Andrew Higgins, New York Times, "A Power Plant Fiasco Highlights China’s Growing Clout in Central Asia," 6 July 2019 Find a predator that’s a match for the powerful noxious weeds — one from the Eurasian steppes that tumbleweeds hail from. — Dakota Kim, Sunset Magazine, "Wildfires, Earthquakes, Mudslides, and … Tumbleweeds? These 30-Foot Monsters Are Coming for Your Car," 2 Jan. 2020 This year, the scientists were tracking 13 endangered steppe eagles who spend summers in northern latitudes in Russia and Kazakhstan. — Timothy B. Lee, Ars Technica, "Eagles fly to Iran, rack up huge roaming charges," 28 Oct. 2019 After nearly 16 days, Fedor and its Soyuz spacecraft landed safely in the dusty steppes of Kazakhstan. — Eric Berger, Ars Technica, "Russia wants to remove space robot’s legs, give it wheels, send it to the Moon," 15 Oct. 2019 Most were built on highly erosive sagebrush steppe in the Gunnison River Basin. — Bruce Finley, The Denver Post, "Moving rocks by hand, Colorado volunteers strengthen eroding landscapes to help withstand climate change," 22 Sep. 2019 DIRECTOR Erdenebileg Ganbold Set in the early 20th century during the Russian Revolution's incursion into the Mongolia steppes, The Steed tells an epic story of family, love, devotion and kinship through the experiences of a boy and his loyal horse. — Tara Bitran, The Hollywood Reporter, "Oscars: A Guide to All 92 Foreign-Language Submissions," 7 Nov. 2019

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

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Dictionary Entries near steppe

step out of line

stepped footing

Statistics for steppe

Last Updated

11 Feb 2020

Cite this Entry

“Steppe.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/steppe. Accessed 20 Feb. 2020.

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