butte
noun
an isolated hill or mountain rising abruptly above the surrounding land.
butte
1 American
[byoot]
/ bjut /
noun
Western U.S. and Canada.
-
buttes
plural
Butte
2
American
[byoot]
/ bjut /
noun
butte
British
/ bjuːt /
noun
butte
Scientific
/ byo̅o̅t /
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of butte
1650–60, < North American French; French: low hill, mound, Old French: landmark, target, apparently feminine derivative of but butt 2
Explanation
A butte is a flat-topped hill that stands alone in a relatively flat area. There are many buttes in the Southwest and Western United States. The dramatic hills in the background of old Western films are often buttes — the director John Ford featured Arizona's Mitten Buttes in seven of his movies. Geographers distinguish between a butte and a mesa, a larger, flat-topped hill: a butte's top is narrower than it is tall, and a mesa's is wider than its height. The explorers Lewis and Clark are responsible for introducing this French word to English speakers.
Vocabulary lists containing butte
Geological Features
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Physical Geography - Middle School
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The United States
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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.
See Examples For:
The patterns also climb the sides of a nearby butte nicknamed "Miraflores."
From Science Daily ● Aug. 1, 2026
Borgquist assures me as we drive to the top that I’ll soon understand why this steep butte is perfect for energy storage.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 16, 2024
The mountain’s name, taken from a nearby ranch that used a swastika cattle brand, made news in January when hikers were rescued off the butte, said Kerry Tymchuk, the Oregon Historical Society’s director.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 2, 2022
An Oregon butte unfortunately titled “Swastika Mountain” will be getting a new name in the near future.
From Washington Times ● Aug. 24, 2022
The eagle screamed to announce his success, then flew toward a distant butte.
From "Hattie Big Sky" by Kirby Larson
Blackstock, who died in August 2025 at the age of 48, purchased the Butte, Mont., property in April 2022 for an undisclosed amount, just one month after his divorce from Clarkson was finalized.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 21, 2026
“As such with limited material capex on the horizon and Black Butte potentially offloaded, we expect material returns from August,” analyst Levi Spry says.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 27, 2026
General funding was also received from Red Butte Garden and the Natural History Museum of Utah.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 25, 2026
Navan, the corporate travel and expense-management company that went public in October, declined 13% after reporting a wider third-quarter loss and revealing that Chief Financial Officer Amy Butte would be stepping down Jan. 9.
From Barron's ● Dec. 16, 2025
That day in Butte, we visited the local mining museum, had a water-pistol battle, and kicked a soccer ball around in the grass.
From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama
In the far reaches of the reservation in Northeastern Arizona, near where the red-rock buttes of Monument Valley rise above the desert floor, indoor plumbing can feel like a luxury.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 1, 2024
In 2003, Westrup heard through an intermediary that someone with land in the buttes was looking to sell.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 20, 2024
My roughly 60-mile section was marked by sienna-hued mesas and buttes, and cornflower-blue skies.
From New York Times ● May 1, 2024
The river where the Battle of Little Bighorn took place coursed through the land, prairie extended into pine trees and high buttes beckoned with even wider-ranging views.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 27, 2023
Number of additional ankle twists on the rocky grounds of North Dakota’s hills and buttes: four, maybe more.
From "A Heart in a Body in the World" by Deb Caletti
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
