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

“It extends from Southern California all the way to the Great Plains and from Canada to Mexico,” he said.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 20, 2026

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 well over half the length of the continental United States, stretching from Texas and the Great Plains region to the mid-Atlantic and northeastern states.

From Barron's • Jan. 22, 2026

So, in 1934, as Depression-era dust storms darkened the skies over the Great Plains, worsened by overgrazing that denuded grasslands, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Taylor Grazing Act, named for the lawmaker.

From Salon • Dec. 4, 2025

For instance, Native American societies became renowned for their mastery of horses, and in some cases of cattle and sheepherding, in parts of the Great Plains, the western United States, and the Argentine pampas.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond