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• plateau
  plateau

  noun

  a land area having a relatively level surface considerably raised above adjoining land on at least one side, and often cut by deep canyons.
• Plateau
  Plateau

  noun

  a state of central Nigeria, formed in 1976 from part of Benue-Plateau State: tin mining. Capital: Jos. Pop: 3 178 712 (2006). Area: 30 913 sq km (11 936 sq miles)

plateau

American  

[pla-toh, plat-oh] / plæˈtoʊ, ˈplæt oʊ /

noun

• plateaus,
  plural
• plateaux
  plural

1. a land area having a relatively level surface considerably raised above adjoining land on at least one side, and often cut by deep canyons.

2. a period or state of little or no growth or decline.

   to reach a plateau in one's career.

3. Psychology. a period of little or no apparent progress in an individual's learning, marked by an inability to increase speed, reduce number of errors, etc., and indicated by a horizontal stretch in a learning curve or graph.

4. a flat stand, as for a centerpiece, sometimes extending the full length of a table.

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verb (used without object)

plateaued, plateauing

1. to reach a state or level of little or no growth or decline, especially to stop increasing or progressing; remain at a stable level of achievement; level off.

   After a period of uninterrupted growth, sales began to plateau.

verb (used with object)

plateaued, plateauing

1. to cause to remain at a stable level, especially to prevent from rising or progressing.

   Rising inflation plateaued sales income.

plateau ¹ British  

/ ˈplætəʊ /

noun

1. a wide mainly level area of elevated land

2. a relatively long period of stability; levelling off

   the rising prices reached a plateau

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verb

1. to remain at a stable level for a relatively long period

Plateau ² British  

/ ˈplætəʊ /

noun

1. a state of central Nigeria, formed in 1976 from part of Benue-Plateau State: tin mining. Capital: Jos. Pop: 3 178 712 (2006). Area: 30 913 sq km (11 936 sq miles)

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plateau Scientific  

/ plă-tō′ /

1. An elevated, comparatively level expanse of land. Plateaus make up about 45 percent of the Earth's land surface.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• plateaus
  plural
• plateaux
  plural

Etymology

Origin of plateau

1785–95; < French; Old French platel flat object, diminutive of plat plate ¹

Explanation

A plateau is a high, flat area of land. The word has also been stretched to include a leveling off of progress. At first the children at the sleepover were running wild, but then their energy level reached a plateau. You can see the word plate inside plateau. Think flat like a plate, or think about mountains that look like tables you could set with plates — so flat the plates won't fall off. If you're a French speaker, this will be easier, as plateau derives from the French plat, "level."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

plateau Plateau plateaus plateaux plateaued plateauing

Tibetans view swaths of China as their homeland, including the county of Kardze in Sichuan province on the eastern edge of the Tibetan plateau where Lobga was born.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026

Scientists have discovered that one of the most extreme volcanic events in Earth's history did more than build a massive underwater plateau.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 18, 2026

Jacob had a meteoric climb from being an unranked university student in 2024 to the world's top 50 a year later - but he has recently hit a plateau.

From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026

It’s no secret that vinyl records’ resurgence has hit a new plateau, outselling CDs for the first time since 1987 as of 2022, according to a report from the Recording Industry Assn. of America.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 5, 2026

And beyond that, rolling to the horizon, was the forested plateau that hid the gorge.

From "Pax" by Sara Pennypacker

Alex, 37, said selling her jewellery at the Christmas market on St George's Plateau for the past five years had been a "really great place to be".

From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2026

He thinks that companies have skipped to the next phase of the cycle, the Slope of Enlightenment, which is the step that occurs before the Plateau of Productivity.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026

To investigate the phenomenon, the team studied 50 rivers across the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the world's largest high-altitude cryosphere outside the polar regions.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 20, 2026

Earlier research showed that animals living on the Tibetan Plateau, which has an average elevation of 14,700 feet, carry a mutation in a gene known as Retsat.

From Science Daily ● Apr. 15, 2026

In the southeastern corner of Kentucky, in the stretch of the Appalachian Mountains known as the Cumberland Plateau, lies a small town called Harlan.

From "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell

Scientists also believe this type of cAMP modulation might eventually help people overcome the weight loss plateaus commonly reported with GLP-1 drugs.

From Science Daily ● May 25, 2026

Not with another four years on his contract, a current buyout price of $22.5 million and now a not-terrible finish to this strange season of all peaks and valleys and no plateaus.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 8, 2026

“Free cash flow per share grows even as revenue plateaus or declines slightly. The companies that execute this transition well are going to emerge as leaner, more profitable versions of themselves,” he says.

From MarketWatch ● Feb. 25, 2026

Tesla’s stock revalues and sits at new plateaus every time it achieves one of its big goals, such as launching the best-selling car, electric or otherwise, in the world, an achievement of Tesla’s Model Y.

From Barron's ● Jan. 23, 2026

There was nothing but the wide expanse of flat desert, which reached toward the edge of the horizon, where massive sandstone plateaus stood that were as faint and round as orange clouds.

From "Healer of the Water Monster" by Brian Young

Connecting the realms, Martine sells crepes in the summer to members of the communes, who venture down from their fields and plateaux for this staple of French cuisine.

From BBC ● Dec. 16, 2023

Currently, it expects wage growth to plateaux around 3.9% late next year and into 2024.

From Reuters ● Nov. 16, 2022

As to the poets who made it into Dear World, there are predictable highs, plateaux and crescendi.

From The Guardian ● Apr. 12, 2013

But with the new edition opening to just $21.5 million — less than either of the previous sequels, in real or inflated dollars — it will have trouble reaching those plateaux.

From Time ● Apr. 8, 2012

Meanwhile the conquest of the great interior plateaux to the south was rapidly proceeding.

From The South American Republics Part I of II by Thomas C. Dawson

But that strategy has faltered as sales of its Epic passes have plateaued.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026

It made sense for his family at the time because his wife’s business was growing, while he felt his career in content marketing had plateaued.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 23, 2026

And that has happened even as Tesla's car production numbers have plateaued.

From BBC ● Jun. 8, 2026

The donors who’ve been forking it over are questioning whether Cornyn has plateaued.

From Slate ● Mar. 2, 2026

My stock plummeted, and by high school, it plateaued.

From "Americanized" by Sara Saedi

The argument wasn’t anything new, and it certainly wasn’t influenced by plateauing sales or consumer complaints.

From Salon ● Jun. 14, 2026

At the same time, American production growth—a key shock absorber for high prices after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine—appears to be plateauing.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 3, 2026

The previously maligned ADP gauge has confirmed the plateauing of payrolls outside the government sector.

From Barron's ● Nov. 8, 2025

Tesla shares have fallen more than 16% this year following a series of setbacks for the company, including brand damage and plateauing interest in electric vehicles.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 25, 2025

"In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, we've actually seen, to some extent, a plateauing in the number of mpox cases, but collectively, it still is a very significantly affected country globally," he said.

From BBC ● Nov. 22, 2024

Related Words

• elevation
• highland
• plain