prairies

noun

plural of prairie
as in plains
a broad area of level or rolling treeless country you can see for miles in every direction on the prairie

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

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 prairies Radical Change Several decades ago, in the dry prairies of eastern Washington, Pamela Soltis and Douglas Soltis began tracking a polyploidy event. — Carrie Arnold contributing, Quanta Magazine, 2 Sep. 2026 The mission includes prairies, plains, and mountains, where helicopters need to fly over remote areas at any time of day. — Sujita Sinha, Interesting Engineering, 1 Sep. 2026 Pleasure-seekers would travel by train to open prairies and plains to watch decommissioned locomotives crash into each other. — Caitlín Doherty, Artforum, 1 Sep. 2026 The entire trail includes nearly five miles of hiking and sits right along the Yellowhouse Draw, combining mixed-grass prairies with an archeological dig site. — Austin Perry Outkick, FOXNews.com, 1 Sep. 2026 Native to the shortgrass prairies of the Great Plains, it’s suited to poor, gravelly soils. — Beth Botts, Chicago Tribune, 23 Aug. 2026 The route passes through diverse landscapes, including forests, prairies, lakes, and the Rocky Mountains, with stops in cities like Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Edmonton, and Jasper. — Maryam Siddiqi, Travel + Leisure, 14 Aug. 2026 Covering 3,652 acres along the Wabash River, the Wabashiki Fish and Wildlife Area stretches across prairies, bottomland forests, and wetlands restored from farmland in 2010. — Brian Garrido, Midwest Living, 13 Aug. 2026 Most don’t associate cryptocurrency with rural states such as South Dakota, with its Great Plains and drift prairies. — K.h. Koehler, Ascend Agency, 6 Aug. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for prairies
  1. plains
  2. steppes
  3. grasslands
  4. savannas
Noun
  • Tycho Crater is visible in the lower region of the lunar disk close to the shadow, while bright ejecta rays of reflective material brighten the darker lunar seas, where lava solidified to form basaltic plains billions of years ago.
    — Anthony Wood, Space.com, 28 Aug. 2026
  • Away from both sides of the road stretched rocky plains, dry and gray as parchment.
    — Leslie E. Tassell, Outdoor Life, 27 Aug. 2026
Definition of plains
Noun
  • Historical legacy is not destiny, and Russia’s excesses cannot be blamed solely on its ties to the political culture of the steppes.
    — Foreign Affairs, Foreign Affairs, 18 Aug. 2026
  • The unification of the Eurasian steppes under Genghis Khan and his successors—Ögödei, Möngke, and Kublai Khan—brought many of these trade routes under a single political authority for the first time.
    — Ethan Teekah, Encyclopedia Britannica, 13 Aug. 2026
Definition of steppes
Noun
  • The urban-wildland interface — where human development intermingles with wild places such as scrublands, grasslands and forests — is the fastest-growing land-use type in the United States.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 26 Aug. 2026
  • Swim, canoe, geocache, and bird-watch among Bastrop State Park’s mosaic of pines, oaks, shrubs, and grasslands, which are punctuated by a carpet of bluebonnets each spring.
    — Allison Tibaldi, USA Today, 25 Aug. 2026
Definition of grasslands
Noun
  • The center of the activities was a grove, within a ring of trees, considered to be one of the oldest oak savannas in the state.
    — Gregory Harutunian, Chicago Tribune, 25 Aug. 2026
  • The new property is nestled inside a 45,000-acre private conservancy with open savannahs and waterholes nearby.
    — Nicole Hoey, Robb Report, 8 July 2026
Definition of savannas

Browse Nearby Words

prairie
prairies
praise
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Prairies.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/prairies. Accessed 4 Sep. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of apiary

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

A List of Most Commonly Confused Words

Why do we use apostrophes to show possession?

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Longest Long Words List

Stay Woke

Ye Olde Nincompoop: Old-Fashioned Words for 'Stupid'

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Words of the Week - Sept. 4
See More

Popular

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

The Longest Long Words List

Stay Woke
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
anagrams on a chalk board
Word Builder Quiz Vol. 2 Pick the letter that when added to a word will ma...
See All