| / English Dictionary |
PLATEAU
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
Irregular inflected form: plateaux
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A relatively flat highland
Synonyms:
plateau; tableland
Classified under:
Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)
Hypernyms ("plateau" is a kind of...):
highland; upland (elevated (e.g., mountainous) land)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "plateau"):
mesa; table (flat tableland with steep edges)
bench; terrace (a level shelf of land interrupting a declivity (with steep slopes above and below))
Instance hyponyms:
Canadian Shield; Laurentian Highlands; Laurentian Plateau (a large plateau that occupies more than 40% of the land area of Canada; it extends from the Great Lakes northward to the Arctic Ocean)
Ardennes (a wooded plateau in the Champagne-Ardenne region of France; the site of intense fighting in World War I and World War II)
Najd; Nejd (a central plateau region of the Arabian Peninsula; formerly an independent sultanate until 1932 when it united with Hejaz to form the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia)
Guiana Highlands (a mountainous tableland in northern South America; extends from Venezuela into Guyana and northern Brazil)
Cambrian Mountains (a rugged plateau that runs north to south through central Wales)
Colorado Plateau (a large plateau to the south and west of the Rocky Mountains; abuts mountains on the north and east and ends in an escarpment overlooking lowlands to the south and west; the Grand Canyon is carved out of the southwestern corner)
Llano Estacado (a large semiarid plateau forming the southern part of the Great Plains)
Massif Central (a mountainous plateau in southern France that covers almost one sixth of the country)
II. (verb)
Sense 1
Present simple (first person singular and plural, second person singular and plural, third person plural) of the verb plateau
Context examples:
In a more open part of the plateau, we could see the three survivors still running in the same direction as they had started, right for Mizzenmast Hill.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
Compositional data from the New Horizons spacecraft, shown in the right inset, indicate that the plateau uplands south of Piri Rupes are rich in methane ice (shown in false color as purple).
(What’s Eating at Pluto?, NASA)
The others lay on their faces to avoid the deadly hail, while at each side of the plateau a fringe of bowmen exchanged shots with the slingers and crossbowmen among the rocks, aiming mainly at those who had swarmed up the cliffs, and bursting into laughter and cheers when a well-aimed shaft brought one of their opponents toppling down from his lofty perch.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
It had already a strong, natural tilt in the direction of the plateau, so that the matter was not difficult.
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
The plateau being somewhat tilted towards the west, this spot on which we had paused commanded a wide prospect on either hand.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
Scientists speculate that sublimation of methane may be causing the plateau material to erode along the face of the cliffs, causing them to retreat south and leave the plains of Piri Planitia in their wake.
(What’s Eating at Pluto?, NASA)
Over the whole summit were dense throngs of knights, with no enemy that could be seen to face them, save only that at one corner of the plateau an eddy and swirl amid the crowded mass seemed to show that all resistance was not yet at an end.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
But a horrible abyss lay between it and the plateau.
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
The top of the plateau was dotted thickly with pine-trees of varying height.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
Compositional data also show that the surface of Piri Planitia is more enriched in water ice (shown in false color as blue) than the higher plateaus, which may indicate that Piri Planitia’s surface is made of water ice bedrock, just beneath a layer of retreating methane ice.
(What’s Eating at Pluto?, NASA)
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