plateau

American  

[pla-toh, plat-oh] / plæˈtoʊ, ˈplæt oʊ /

noun

plural

plateaus, plateaux

1. a land area having a relatively level surface considerably raised above adjoining land on at least one side, and often cut by deep canyons.

2. a period or state of little or no growth or decline.

   to reach a plateau in one's career.

3. Psychology. a period of little or no apparent progress in an individual's learning, marked by an inability to increase speed, reduce number of errors, etc., and indicated by a horizontal stretch in a learning curve or graph.

4. a flat stand, as for a centerpiece, sometimes extending the full length of a table.

---

verb (used without object)

plateaued, plateauing

1. to reach a state or level of little or no growth or decline, especially to stop increasing or progressing; remain at a stable level of achievement; level off.

   After a period of uninterrupted growth, sales began to plateau.

verb (used with object)

plateaued, plateauing

1. to cause to remain at a stable level, especially to prevent from rising or progressing.

   Rising inflation plateaued sales income.

Plateau ¹ British  

/ ˈplætəʊ /

noun

1. a state of central Nigeria, formed in 1976 from part of Benue-Plateau State: tin mining. Capital: Jos. Pop: 3 178 712 (2006). Area: 30 913 sq km (11 936 sq miles)

---

plateau ² British  

/ ˈplætəʊ /

noun

1. a wide mainly level area of elevated land

2. a relatively long period of stability; levelling off

   the rising prices reached a plateau

---

verb

1. to remain at a stable level for a relatively long period

plateau Scientific  

/ plă-tō′ /

1. An elevated, comparatively level expanse of land. Plateaus make up about 45 percent of the Earth's land surface.

---

Etymology

Origin of plateau

1785–95; < French; Old French platel flat object, diminutive of plat plate ¹

Example Sentences

Office attendance rates continue to tick up even as we reach a mandate plateau.

From The Wall Street Journal

Efforts continue to move the remaining three to a nearby plateau so they can be recovered using a winch.

From BBC

The experiment revealed Shapiro steps, which are distinct voltage plateaus that appear at multiples of a driving frequency, just as they do in superconducting devices.

From Science Daily

This time aligns with a plateau in our intelligence and personality, the researchers said, and the regions of the brain become more segregated.

From The Wall Street Journal

Meanwhile, demand for basic staples has largely plateaued because higher incomes increase demand for quality and variety, not for vastly larger quantities of food.

From Barron's

Related Words

• elevation
• highland
• plain