plateau 1 of 2

as in mesa
a broad flat area of elevated land Native Americans have inhabited the plateau for centuries

Synonyms & Similar Words

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plateau

2 of 2

verb

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of plateau
Noun
Over the past decade, psychology has uncovered patterns that distinguish the people who rise quickly from those who plateau. Mena Mirhom, Forbes.com, 13 Aug. 2025 That means global power-sector emissions are expected to plateau this year and begin to gradually fall next year. Tim McDonnell, semafor.com, 31 July 2025
Verb
The closure shrouds the 8,000-foot-high plateau and its elk, bison and occasional backcountry skiers in a winter wilderness that some advocates hope to protect and others seek to unlock. Brandon Loomis, AZCentral.com, 5 Oct. 2025 For millennia, qanats—ingenious underground aqueducts—balanced survival with scarcity across the central plateau of Iran. Nik Kowsar, Time, 2 Oct. 2025 See All Example Sentences for plateau
Recent Examples of Synonyms for plateau
Noun
  • 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
  • Instead, tribal members have relied on a single power line that runs roughly 30 miles east and west across high desert punctuated by three distinctive mesas, home to 12 distinct villages, including some of the oldest inhabited communities in the United States.
    Nate Perez, NPR, 7 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • The Irish don’t have like-for-like replacements for Craig or Rubio, which leaves Freeman scrambling to stabilize an offensive line yet to click and a defensive interior that has tried to use quantity to make up for a lack of quality.
    Pete Sampson, New York Times, 17 Oct. 2025
  • And trust in global leadership is fracturing, just as the need for solutions to protect nature, manage migration, stabilize conflict zones, and navigate technology disruption grows more urgent than ever before.
    Sergio Alonso Fernández de Córdova y de Veyga, Fortune, 16 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • This musician from Ambato, Ecuador, tropicalized the national music of the Ecuadorian highlands, which had long been stigmatized for its Indigenous roots and the sad melodies often associated with them.
    NPR, NPR, 13 Oct. 2025
  • Don Churros Gomez traces its lineage back to Yahualica, Jalisco, a region in Mexico’s highlands known for its rich soil and incredible produce, according to Nuñes-Gomez.
    Brock Keeling, Oc Register, 13 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • The tableland was formed by volcanic eruptions about 700,000 years ago, according to the Bishop Chamber of Commerce and Information Center.
    Don Sweeney, Sacramento Bee, 11 Mar. 2025
  • It's located on the Cumberland Plateau — a 450-mile tableland that covers much of eastern Kentucky and Tennessee, with soaring sandstone walls, large boulders, and dramatic overhangs.
    Evie Carrick, Travel + Leisure, 22 July 2023
Noun
  • Built in the late 19 th century to transport the altiplano’s abundant metals and minerals, the railway line once ran from Bolivia’s de facto capital La Paz to the Pacific port of Antofagasta in Chile.
    The Editors, Outside, 31 Aug. 2025
  • Tiwanaku communities first emerged in an altiplano, or high plain, of the Andes called the Titicaca Basin, named after Lake Titicaca.
    Gina Park, CNN Money, 19 Aug. 2025
Noun
  • Use the dome light and flashers to make your vehicle more noticeable.
    CA Weather Bot, Sacbee.com, 14 Oct. 2025
  • Hagia Sophia in Istanbul was a key inspiration; elements of that building are reflected in Euphoria’s domes and arches, as well as its palette of gold, blue, red, and yellow.
    Janine Di Giovanni, Travel + Leisure, 11 Oct. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Plateau.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/plateau. Accessed 23 Oct. 2025.

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