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• Karoo
  Karoo

  noun

  a vast plateau in the Republic of South Africa, in Cape of Good Hope province. 100,000 square miles (260,000 square kilometers); 3000–4000 feet (900–1200 meters) above sea level.
• karoo
  karoo

  A semiarid plateau. The most well-known karoos cover nearly 400,000 sq km (156,000 sq mi) of southern Africa. Karoos are terrace shaped and characterized by low scrub vegetation.

Karoo

American  

[kuh-roo] / kəˈru /

Or Karroo

noun

• karoos
  plural

1. a vast plateau in the Republic of South Africa, in Cape of Good Hope province. 100,000 square miles (260,000 square kilometers); 3000–4000 feet (900–1200 meters) above sea level.

2. (lowercase) an arid South African tableland with red clay soil.

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Karoo British  

/ kəˈruː /

noun

1. any of several high arid plateaus in South Africa, esp the Central Karoo and the Little Karoo. The highveld, north of the Central Karoo, is sometimes called the Northern Karoo

2. a period or rock system in Southern Africa equivalent to the period or system extending from the Upper Carboniferous to the Lower Jurassic: divided into Lower and Upper Karoo

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adjective

1. of, denoting, or formed in the Karoo period

karoo Scientific  

/ kə-ro̅o̅′ /

1. A semiarid plateau. The most well-known karoos cover nearly 400,000 sq km (156,000 sq mi) of southern Africa. Karoos are terrace shaped and characterized by low scrub vegetation.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• karoos
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of Karoo

First recorded in 1785–90; from Afrikaans kar(r)oo, from Khoikhoi; compare Xhaeruh, Phaeruh placename recorded in 1689, Nama garo “parched, dry, arid,” !garo-b “desolate waste”

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Karoo karoo karoos

Some dinosaurs may have briefly survived the initial eruptions, but they were likely among the last animals to live in the Karoo Basin at that time.

From Science Daily ● Apr. 24, 2026

The Karoo Basin, once contiguous with Antarctica—and later underwater and now semi-arid—was a verdant home for what the show says were six basic groups of therapsids.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 10, 2026

Many of the world's succulent species are only found in the Succulent Karoo desert, which spans South Africa and Namibia.

From BBC ● Dec. 25, 2024

These will form a collection of 197 antennas, extending over about 150 kilometres in South Africa’s dry Karoo region.

From Scientific American ● Dec. 6, 2022

“That’s enough, Mynheer Jan. We mustn’t attempt to go back over the Karoo; it would be our ruin, as you say.”

From The Vee-Boers A Tale of Adventure in Southern Africa by Mayne Reid

Such a picture is often presented upon the karoo plains of Southern Africa.

From The Young Yagers A Narrative of Hunting Adventures in Southern Africa by Mayne Reid

Rains had covered the karoo with a heavy coat of green that hid the red earth everywhere.

From The Story of an African Farm, a novel by Olive Schreiner

Every day the karoo shows us a new wonder sleeping in its teeming bosom.

From The Story of an African Farm, a novel by Olive Schreiner

Black servants were the shepherds, and the children, having no work to employ their time, were free to roam over karoo, and veld, and along the river.

From Wealth of the World's Waste Places and Oceania by Jewett Castello Gilson

There was nothing to be seen but the last rays of yellow sunset light, painting the karoo bushes in the plain, and shining on the ash-heap, where the fowls were pecking.

From The Story of an African Farm, a novel by Olive Schreiner

Far different are the feelings inspired by the sight of this beautiful tree amid the karoos of Southern Africa.

From The Young Yagers A Narrative of Hunting Adventures in Southern Africa by Mayne Reid

Not on the blood-stained karoos of Africa, not upon the forest-plains of the Amazon, not by the icy shores of the Arctic Sea, certainly not upon the prairies of North America.

From The War Trail The Hunt of the Wild Horse by Mayne Reid

There are hunters residing upon the desert karoos, who hunt the ostrich as a profession.

From The Young Yagers A Narrative of Hunting Adventures in Southern Africa by Mayne Reid

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