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• mesa
  mesa

  noun

  a land formation, less extensive than a plateau, having steep walls and a relatively flat top and common in arid and semiarid parts of the southwestern U.S. and Mexico.
• Mesa
  Mesa

  noun

  a city in central Arizona, near Phoenix.

mesa

¹ American  

[may-suh] / ˈmeɪ sə /

noun

• mesas
  plural

1. a land formation, less extensive than a plateau, having steep walls and a relatively flat top and common in arid and semiarid parts of the southwestern U.S. and Mexico.

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Mesa ² American  

[may-suh] / ˈmeɪ sə /

noun

1. a city in central Arizona, near Phoenix.

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mesa British  

/ ˈmeɪsə /

noun

1. a flat tableland with steep edges, common in the southwestern US

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mesa Scientific  

/ mā′sə /

1. An area of high land with a flat top and two or more steep, clifflike sides. Mesas are larger than buttes and smaller than plateaus, and are common in the southwest United States.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• mesas
  plural

Etymology

Origin of mesa

1750–60, < Spanish: table < Latin mēnsa

Explanation

A mesa is a flat-topped hill most commonly found in the Southwest part of the U.S.. Its sides are steep all around so that it looks like a massive table. Mesa comes from the Latin mensa meaning "table," which is very much what a mesa looks like. A mesa is formed when the weaker horizontal rocks around a big formation start to erode and fall away, leaving stronger rocks standing in a flat-topped hill. Grand Mesa in Western Colorado is the largest mesa in the world, with an area of 500 square miles. That's bigger than all of Hong Kong!

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

mesa Mesa mesas

Under the veil of the Manhattan Project, this remote mesa became the site of a profound scientific pivot that ended a world war and ushered in the nuclear age.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026

The area around the mesa is rugged, quiet and vast, and water has to be hauled in.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 22, 2024

Calderon and Murphey are dismayed by dirt bike tracks and moguls made of mud flecked with seashells that mar the mesa.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 10, 2023

Later, higher-resolution photographs with fewer shadows showed a pretty plain mesa.

From Scientific American ● May 17, 2023

They were at the base of the sandstone mesa, which was now dark purple.

From "Healer of the Water Monster" by Brian Young

Two more locations, in downtown L.A. and Costa Mesa, are scheduled to open in June and September 2027, respectively.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026

ICE and CBP entered the license agreements to train at the Otay Mesa site in 2021, with ICE paying the county around $10,000 a year and CBP paying around $117,00.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2026

Just over a quarter of a century ago, four guys from Mesa, Ariz., came to L.A. to record their fourth album.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2026

Anduril Industries, a military technology company based in Costa Mesa, approached the San José-based air taxi venture Archer Aviation two years ago with a concept for a dual-use, self-flying rotorcraft.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026

The cloudy yellow sandstone of Enchanted Mesa was still smoky blue before dawn, and only a faint hint of yellow light touched the highest point of the mesa.

From "Ceremony:" by Leslie Marmon Silko

Washington, Utah, located just southwest of Zion National Park, is surrounded by cinematic mesas and has long been a hub for exploring the natural wonders of the American west.

From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2025

The central summit area is marked by several elevated mesas forming an arc, reaching a regional high and sloping downhill away from the summit area.

From Science Daily ● Mar. 13, 2024

The pair once spent a week combing brushy hills and mesas in the Grapevine Mountains on the eastern edges of Death Valley in hopes of spotting an elusive and rarely seen gray vireo.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2023

Drive 44 miles east along Highway 14 through winding mesas, buttes, and river scenery to the Maryhill Museum of Art.

From Seattle Times ● May 10, 2023

We were high up in the foothills, at least five hundred feet, and down below a valley spread out, filled with a tumbled collection of red mesas and boulders and spires of stone.

From "The Battle of the Labyrinth" by Rick Riordan