flatland

[flat-land]

noun

1. a region that lacks appreciable topographic relief.

Other Word Forms

• flatlander noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of flatland¹

An Americanism dating back to 1725–35; flat ¹ + -land

Example Sentences

In his infamous 1998 essay, “The Case for Letting Malibu Burn,” the much-revered and equally despised environmental activist and historian Mike Davis wrote that the “flatland majority” has always been paying “the ever increasing expense of maintaining and, when necessary, rebuilding sloping suburbia,” those rarefied neighborhoods that consider themselves part of Los Angeles proper only when they need something from the rest of us.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

"I was raised in Delta dirt, sunshine and flatland that goes on for miles and miles," she sings, as people nod their heads and stomp their feet to the beat.

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“I think a lot of it is that we populate the scene between the flatland of L.A. and the Griffith Park hill.”

Read more on Los Angeles Times

The eastern edge of the city hugs a steep green sierra; development has moved ravenously in the three other directions, across the flatland in the west and up into steep hills in the south, with informal settlements that cling precariously to the mountainsides.

Read more on Slate

Louis said Parker's best discipline is flatland BMX - doing tricks on the ground, without the use of ramps, however, for Parker, he enjoys the more extreme side.

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• expanse 
• field 
• grassland 
• meadow 
• plateau 
• prairie 
• steppe