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
As Arizona yielded to New Mexico, the dirt seemed to get redder and the ridges rose to form buttes.
—
Tribune News Service, San Diego Union-Tribune, 10 Mar. 2026
Within minutes, guests can be standing beneath the stone arches of Arches National Park, 4 miles away, or surveying mesas and buttes in Canyonlands National Park, 30 miles southwest, where the Colorado and Green rivers have carved the landscape for centuries.
—Cari Shane, USA Today, 15 Oct. 2025
In Arizona's high country, the leaves could soon match the color of some of the buttes.
—Michael Salerno, AZCentral.com, 9 Oct. 2025
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.
—Larry Olmsted, Forbes.com, 19 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for butte
Tribune News Service, San Diego Union-Tribune, 10 Mar. 2026
Within minutes, guests can be standing beneath the stone arches of Arches National Park, 4 miles away, or surveying mesas and buttes in Canyonlands National Park, 30 miles southwest, where the Colorado and Green rivers have carved the landscape for centuries.
—Cari Shane, USA Today, 15 Oct. 2025
In Arizona's high country, the leaves could soon match the color of some of the buttes.
—Michael Salerno, AZCentral.com, 9 Oct. 2025
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.
—Larry Olmsted, Forbes.com, 19 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for butte
Recent Examples of Synonyms for butte
Noun
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By 1890, the population of Los Angeles had nearly quintupled, and land speculation in the city’s outlying areas, from the coast to the mountains, was rampant.—
Oren Peleg,
New Yorker,
9 May 2026
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South Dakota Custer State Park Resort, Custer Four historic lodges plus a variety of cabins nestle among 71,000 acres of mountains at Custer State Park.—
Jess Hoffert,
Midwest Living,
9 May 2026
Noun
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Concert films typically drop off a cliff after Week 1, as the bulk of the box office is tied up in pre-sales and attendance from the biggest fans in the first weekend.—
Brian Welk,
IndieWire,
11 May 2026
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My anchor was made of cliff faces and wild things; its beauty was terrifying.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
11 May 2026
Noun
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Developers advertised the rugged mesa—framed by the Santa Monica Mountains to the east and the ocean to the west—as an escape from the dust and noise of the growing city of Los Angeles.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
13 May 2026
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West of the mountains, the scenery opens into Utah’s red-rock country, defined by mesas and sandstone formations, before stretching into the high desert of Nevada, where towns are sparse.—
AFAR Media,
AFAR Media,
27 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Built in 1885, the route once played a key role in transporting coffee and grains from the Curitiba highlands to the coast.—
Taryn White,
Travel + Leisure,
11 May 2026
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Take away the highlands and the suburbs and the big round table, and these are two shows that tell stories through the words and actions of real people.—
Joe Reid,
Vulture,
10 May 2026
Noun
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Yuba County faces a range of natural disaster threats, including flooding near the Feather and Yuba rivers and wildfire danger in surrounding foothill communities.—
Kayla Moeller,
CBS News,
14 May 2026
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Mendoza is a destination that attracts true wine lovers with a taste for adventure, seeking to plunge into the depths of flavor Argentine wines are known for and venture to visit the gauchos in the foothills, where savory smoke billows from meat-laden asados.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
13 May 2026
Noun
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There are remote lodges opened by textile entrepreneurs (Norden Camp, on the Tibetan plateau) and residence-style hotels opened by lawyers (Villa Fayoum in Egypt).—
Gisela Williams,
Travel + Leisure,
9 May 2026
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Century mark El Camino baseball coach Ricky Imperiali reached the 100-win plateau last week.—
John Maffei,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
7 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Butte.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/butte. Accessed 15 May. 2026.
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