Dust Bowl

American  

[duhst bohl] / ˈdʌst ˌboʊl /

noun

1. a period, throughout the 1930s, when waves of severe drought and dust storms in the North American prairies occurred, having devastating consequences for the residents, livestock, and agriculture there.

   When the Dust Bowl began, the Great Depression was already underway—it was one disaster on top of another.

2. the region that suffered from these waves of drought and dust storms, including the entire U.S. Midwest and, in Canada, the southern prairies of Alberta and Saskatchewan.

   Our Oklahoma panhandle was smack dab in the center of that heartless Dust Bowl.

3. (lowercase) any similar dry region elsewhere.

   Where we see the tragic formation of dust bowls in Asia and Africa, overgrazing is believed to be the main culprit.

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Dust Bowl ¹ British  

noun

1. the area of the south central US that became denuded of topsoil by wind erosion during the droughts of the mid-1930s

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dust bowl ² British  

noun

1. a semiarid area in which the surface soil is exposed to wind erosion and dust storms occur

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Dust Bowl Cultural  

1. A parched region of the Great Plains, including parts of Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Texas, where a combination of drought and soil erosion created enormous dust storms in the 1930s. The novel The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck, describes the plight of the “Okies” and “Arkies” uprooted by the drought and forced to migrate to California.

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Etymology

Origin of Dust Bowl

An Americanism dating back to 1935–40

Example Sentences

The roughly two-acre park would be the first to directly highlight the Dust Bowl and migrant farming camps of the Great Depression, state officials said.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 22, 2026

But I held up one of the images from The Other California - 1975, and it was this Okie, a guy that was born during the Dust Bowl in Oklahoma and moved out to California.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 25, 2025

The novel tells the story of a family of Oklahoma tenant farmers who lose their land during the Dust Bowl and migrate to California in search of work and stability.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 12, 2025

Last week, Chicago and El Paso were hit with the worst dust storms they’ve seen since the literal Dust Bowl.

From Slate • May 22, 2025

The Grapes of Wrath, the classic novel about the Dust Bowl and the migration of Oklahoma farmers to California, ends with death and a glimmer of renewed life.

From "Enrique's Journey" by Sonia Nazario