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.
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
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”
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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
The route which Captain Jamieson had advised the Major to follow lay across the Middel Roggeveldt, then over the Groote Karoo, striking into the Beaufort-Worcester track near to Kudos Kop.
From The War of the Axe Adventures in South Africa by Percy-Groves, J.
"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 Buckland, A. R. (Augustus Robert)
The smell of the karoo was in his nostrils.
From The Judgment House by Parker, Gilbert
Doss sat among the karoo bushes, one yellow ear drawn over his wicked little eye, ready to flap away any adventurous fly that might settle on his nose.
From The Story of an African Farm, a novel by Schreiner, Olive
Every day the karoo shows us a new wonder sleeping in its teeming bosom.
From The Story of an African Farm, a novel by Schreiner, Olive
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 Schreiner, Olive
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 Reid, Mayne
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 Reid, Mayne
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 Reid, Mayne
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
