badlands

American

[bad-landz] / ˈbædˌlændz /

plural noun

a barren area in which soft rock strata are eroded into varied, fantastic forms.

badlands British

/ ˈbædˌlændz /

plural noun

any deeply eroded barren area

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of badlands

An Americanism dating back to 1850–55; bad ¹ + land + -s ³; translation of French mauvaises terres, alluding to the difficulty in traversing such country

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

It’s also Robby’s final day of work before embarking on a three-month motorcycle road trip set to take him from Pittsburgh to the Canadian badlands.

From Salon • Jan. 8, 2026

"The badlands in Wyoming where the finds were made is a unique 'mummy zone' that has more surprises in store from fossils collected over years of visits by teams of university undergrads."

From Science Daily • Nov. 30, 2025

In the summer of 2022, two boys hiking with their father and a 7-year-old cousin in the North Dakota badlands came across some large bones poking out of a rock.

From New York Times • Jun. 4, 2024

The next day members of the motorcycle club headed northeast, crossing into badlands of Arizona’s Painted Desert, engines roaring amid the red mesas and cottonwood gulleys.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 2, 2023

I roll out of the badlands, past scrub cedar trees and a boarded-up church.

From "Wintergirls" by Laurie Halse Anderson

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023