Great Plains

American  

noun

1. a semiarid region E of the Rocky Mountains, in the U.S. and Canada.

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Great Plains British  

plural noun

1. a vast region of North America east of the Rocky Mountains, extending from the lowlands of the Mackenzie River (Canada), south to the Big Bend of the Rio Grande

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Great Plains Cultural  

1. Grassland prairie region of North America, extending from Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, in Canada, south through the west-central United States into Texas.

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In the 1930s, areas of the Great Plains were known collectively as the Dust Bowl. Poor agricultural practices led to depletion of topsoil, which was blown away in huge dust storms. The area was called the Great American Desert well into the nineteenth century.

Now characterized by huge ranches and farms, the Great Plains were long inhabited by Native Americans.

Example Sentences

The severe winter weather will bring widespread travel disruptions, including heavy snow in the Northeast, and frigid temperatures and gusty winds in the southern Great Plains and elsewhere, the National Weather Service said.

From MarketWatch • Jan. 23, 2026

Winter Storm Fern is forecast to engulf an area stretching from Texas and the Great Plains region to the mid-Atlantic and northeastern states.

From Barron's • Jan. 21, 2026

In response, American farmers shifted millions of acres away from crops such as wheat, especially in the Great Plains.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 7, 2025

In the Great Plains, thousands abandoned their farms in the country’s “dust bowl” and headed for California.

From Salon • Jul. 30, 2025

The Indigenous peoples who lived on the Great Plains also used fire to extend those vast grasslands to make more grazing lands for buffalo herds.

From "An Indigenous People’s History of the United States" by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz