as in mountain
a type of hill with a flat top and steep sides that is found in the southwestern U.S.
The otherworldly sandstone buttes of Monument Valley, Arizona are well worth a visit.
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Recent Examples of butte
Another legend suggests the name came from two local buttes resembling piles of horse manure — the actual meaning of the word.
—
Marley Malenfant, Austin American Statesman, 7 May 2025
Image The forest stretches as far as the eye can see, over multiple buttes that rise dome-like out of the ground.
—Michael Hanson, New York Times, 1 May 2025
Badlands National Park, South Dakota The 244,000-acre Badlands National Park offers a mix of towering rock spires and buttes surrounding verdant prairie.
—Graham Averill, Outside Online, 13 June 2025
Comprising nearly 463,000 acres of private and leased public land centered on the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge, the American Prairie reserve is decidedly un-tropical, a rolling shortgrass prairie that stretches out to the horizon, punctuated by smatterings of trees and rocky buttes.
—Adam Roy, Outside Online, 24 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for butte
Marley Malenfant, Austin American Statesman, 7 May 2025
Image The forest stretches as far as the eye can see, over multiple buttes that rise dome-like out of the ground.
—Michael Hanson, New York Times, 1 May 2025
Badlands National Park, South Dakota The 244,000-acre Badlands National Park offers a mix of towering rock spires and buttes surrounding verdant prairie.
—Graham Averill, Outside Online, 13 June 2025
Comprising nearly 463,000 acres of private and leased public land centered on the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge, the American Prairie reserve is decidedly un-tropical, a rolling shortgrass prairie that stretches out to the horizon, punctuated by smatterings of trees and rocky buttes.
—Adam Roy, Outside Online, 24 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for butte
Recent Examples of Synonyms for butte
Noun
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As the novel unfolds, Carson follows Lexa’s life at the foot of the mountain, as she is caught between loyalties to her family and to her betrothed, while the spectre of violence creeps closer by the day.—
Rebecca Mead,
New Yorker,
19 Aug. 2025
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In her later years, even though she was diagnosed with a terminal illness, Junko continued to challenge the mountains throughout her life.—
Zac Ntim,
Deadline,
19 Aug. 2025
Noun
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Acknowledging how unpopular that decision may prove to be, some moderate Republicans are already pushing for a bipartisan deal to avoid the cliff.—
Eleanor Mueller,
semafor.com,
18 Aug. 2025
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Through a gate, past an old bathhouse — once one of Hungary’s first concrete structures — a narrow alley leads to an unmarked doorway in the cliff.—
Jennifer Walker,
CNN Money,
18 Aug. 2025
Noun
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These pinnacles are surrounded by miles of windblown sand and bordered by mesas and buttes.—
Evie Carrick,
Travel + Leisure,
21 Apr. 2025
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On the mesa, flames leaped from one 4,000-square-foot home to the next.—
Robert Petkoff Krish Seenivasan Quinton Kamara,
New York Times,
8 Apr. 2025
Noun
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For travellers who make the journey into Iceland’s highlands, the rewards are spectacular.—
David Nikel,
Forbes.com,
16 Aug. 2025
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The culinary revival can also be seen in the surrounding highlands.—
Naomi Tomky,
Travel + Leisure,
12 Aug. 2025
Noun
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The brothers grew up on a 160-acre ranch at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Alberta, Canada.—
Natalia Senanayake,
People.com,
28 July 2025
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In the coastal province of Shandong, flash floods destroyed 19 houses in foothill villages last week, killing two people and leaving 10 more missing, after half a year’s worth of rain fell in five hours overnight.—
Nectar Gan,
CNN Money,
28 July 2025
Noun
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Many of us took the North Cape plateau tour, the northernmost point of the European continent.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
12 Aug. 2025
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Sustained backlash to his policies in surveys could persuade the president to change his approach while a plateau could indicate Trump's relationship with the public is becoming more stable.—
Kate Plummer,
MSNBC Newsweek,
11 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Butte.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/butte. Accessed 22 Aug. 2025.
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