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
Courses are high-quality desert golf with lots of elevation changes, exposed rocks, and a few dramatic signature holes, most famously the third on the Mountain course, a short par-three with a tee on a cliff and the green atop a rocky butte.
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Larry Olmsted, Forbes.com, 19 Sep. 2025
The southern end of the park is known for its high concentration of petrified wood, but the northern end has jaw-dropping views of the Painted Desert, the colorful expanse of hills, buttes, and mesas in Arizona’s high desert.
—Lydia Mansel, Travel + Leisure, 6 Sep. 2025
No eyes, no nose, just a butte with shadows.
—Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 4 Sep. 2025
Their conclusion from this is that the mesas and buttes are the remains of what was once a far larger plateau, which was largely eroded away on the side facing the northern basin.
—John Timmer, Ars Technica, 20 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for butte
Larry Olmsted, Forbes.com, 19 Sep. 2025
The southern end of the park is known for its high concentration of petrified wood, but the northern end has jaw-dropping views of the Painted Desert, the colorful expanse of hills, buttes, and mesas in Arizona’s high desert.
—Lydia Mansel, Travel + Leisure, 6 Sep. 2025
No eyes, no nose, just a butte with shadows.
—Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 4 Sep. 2025
Their conclusion from this is that the mesas and buttes are the remains of what was once a far larger plateau, which was largely eroded away on the side facing the northern basin.
—John Timmer, Ars Technica, 20 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for butte
Recent Examples of Synonyms for butte
Noun
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Nearby Seceda mountain later featured as a screensaver in Apple’s iOS 7 update in 2013, prompting waves of visitors keen to see the image in real life — with daily numbers reportedly reaching 8,000 at peak times.—
Barbie Latza Nadeau,
CNN Money,
31 Jan. 2026
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Meanwhile, imagery shows that two tunnels into a mountain near the Isfahan facility have been packed with dirt, a measure against missile strikes that Iran also did just before the June war.—
Jon Gambrell,
Los Angeles Times,
31 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Tucked along the San Diego coastline and surrounded by sandstone cliffs, La Jolla Cove is home to scores of seals, sea lions, and their pups.—
Alanna Bennett,
Condé Nast Traveler,
26 Jan. 2026
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Paddleboards are disembarked next to an unassuming cliff face.—
Tristan Rutherford,
Robb Report,
26 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Think again, as the California Zephyr, the longest route in America crosses through seven states, carving up Colorado’s canyons, then passing into Utah where the sun ignites mesas into flaming towers of rock.—
Arati Menon,
Condé Nast Traveler,
28 Jan. 2026
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Beyond cost, Purple Line development will face a high degree of difficulty because of the topography of mesas and valleys.—
Michael Smolens,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
21 Dec. 2025
Noun
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In the 1880s, Belgium’s King Leopold II annexed the entire Congo Basin, more than nine hundred thousand square miles of Central African jungle, highlands, savanna, and forest, Katanga included.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
22 Jan. 2026
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The path of totality passes just north of the High Energy Stereoscopic System (HESS), a cosmic-ray-hunting telescope in Namibia's Khomas highlands.—
Jamie Carter,
Space.com,
20 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Tiffany Yap, urban wildlands science director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in addition, the status upgrade can influence foothill and mountain development land use.—
Steve Scauzillo,
Daily News,
28 Jan. 2026
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Nestled in the foothills of Silicon Valley, the school has long functioned as a launchpad for tech’s elite.—
Preston Fore,
Fortune,
12 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Robbins heard a shout from one of his deputies, who directed the others’ attention down a slope about ten yards from the plateau.—
Scott Eden,
Rolling Stone,
1 Feb. 2026
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At 45, Johnson was the 24th pitcher and sixth left-hander to reach that vaunted plateau.—
Barry M. Bloom,
Forbes.com,
23 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Butte.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/butte. Accessed 3 Feb. 2026.
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