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• Dust Bowl
  Dust Bowl

  noun

  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.
• dust bowl
  dust bowl

  noun

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

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

John Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath” dramatized the suffering and exploitation of farmers migrating to California from the drought-ridden Dust Bowl of Oklahoma.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 21, 2026

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

Russell’s Uz is a desolate, ravaged Dust Bowl town where farmers have lost their crops and residents have perished thanks to extreme weather.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 5, 2025

Although Pulitzer winner Russell’s second novel takes place in the Dust Bowl, its messages for the 21st century United States come through loud and clear.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 28, 2025

Then they started calling the Central Valley the Pacific Dust Bowl, and that put the last nail in the region’s coffin.

From "Dry" by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman