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
American
[kuh-roo]
/ kəˈru /
Or
Karroo
noun
-
karoos
plural
-
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.
-
(lowercase) an arid South African tableland with red clay soil.
Karoo
British
/ kəˈruː /
noun
-
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
-
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
adjective
karoo
Scientific
/ kə-ro̅o̅′ /
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
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”
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
But around 182 million years ago, massive volcanic eruptions spread lava across much of the inland Karoo Basin, where many dinosaurs once lived.
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
It is, in fact, a practice in all Karoo houses to close every window and shutter at about ten o'clock each morning, not throwing them open again until sunset.
From Blue Aloes Stories of South Africa by Cynthia Stockley
To a Dutch country wedding guests start up in numbers astonishing to one who has merely ridden through the plains of sparsely-inhabited karoo.
From The Story of an African Farm, a novel by Olive Schreiner
"Come, let's fight for it," he cried, casting his hat and scarlet head-handkerchief into the karoo out of the way.
From The Empire Annual for Girls, 1911 by A. R. (Augustus Robert) Buckland
The road we took led through a fairly fertile country, and that in the Free State means that there generally was grass instead of karoo.
From The Relief of Mafeking How it Was Accomplished by Mahon's Flying Column; with an Account of Some Earlier Episodes in the Boer War of 1899-1900 by Filson Young
We wish our father hadn't brought us to town, and we were out on the karoo.
From The Story of an African Farm, a novel by Olive Schreiner
Plenty of nice, sandy karoo where all the sand-storms come from!
From The Top of the World by Ethel M. (Ethel May) Dell
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
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
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
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