a land area having a relatively level surface considerably raised above adjoining land on at least one side, and often cut by deep canyons.
a period or state of little or no growth or decline.
to reach a plateau in one's career.
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.
a flat stand, as for a centerpiece, sometimes extending the full length of a table.
a wide mainly level area of elevated land
a relatively long period of stability; levelling off
the rising prices reached a plateau
1785–95; < French; Old French platel flat object, diminutive of plat plate 1
A plateau is a high, flat area of land. The word has also been stretched to include a leveling off of progress. At first the children at the sleepover were running wild, but then their energy level reached a plateau. You can see the word plate inside plateau. Think flat like a plate, or think about mountains that look like tables you could set with plates — so flat the plates won't fall off. If you're a French speaker, this will be easier, as plateau derives from the French plat, "level."
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
It’s no secret that vinyl records’ resurgence has hit a new plateau, outselling CDs for the first time since 1987 as of 2022, according to a report from the Recording Industry Assn. of America.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 5, 2026
As a famous economist infamously noted in 1929, they seem to have reached a permanently high plateau.
From Barron's ● Jun. 3, 2026
In some tests, dye poured into sinkholes on the plateau traveled roughly 20 kilometers and appeared at springs in as little as a week.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 2, 2026
According to Nash, at the time of the cave art what is now the Bristol Channel was a "rich fertile plateau" between Gower and the north Devon coast.
From BBC ● Jun. 1, 2026
At the far end of the plateau boys had climbed into the trees.
From "The Sun Also Rises" by Ernest Hemingway
The simplest explanation for where the water comes from is the surface, particularly snowmelt from the Kaibab Plateau.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 2, 2026
The solar panels and wind turbines that have popped up over swathes of sun-soaked land, from the Tibetan Plateau to Xinjiang's deserts, are part of this vision.
From BBC ● May 31, 2026
Earlier research showed that animals living on the Tibetan Plateau, which has an average elevation of 14,700 feet, carry a mutation in a gene known as Retsat.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 15, 2026
"I think when justice is done, we can have peace in Plateau state."
From BBC ● Mar. 21, 2026
Over the next ten minutes, ministers followed the protest of alien nerves in fortresses across the Bonecruel Mountains and the Plateau of Drume.
From "The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge" by M.T. Anderson and Eugene Yelchin
There are strange choices, plateaus and unnecessary dramas, but now there is a mettle.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 13, 2026
At CERAWeek, ConocoPhillips CEO Ryan Lance said providing new oil supply as shale plateaus is one of the industry’s big challenges.
From Barron's ● Mar. 28, 2026
Not with another four years on his contract, a current buyout price of $22.5 million and now a not-terrible finish to this strange season of all peaks and valleys and no plateaus.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 8, 2026
These flat regions, known as plateaus, turned out to be universal.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 1, 2026
The Taklamakan and its buried cities gave way to the western high plateaus where the ground hardened into clay, and gorges had been cut into the rock shelves.
From "The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams" by Daniel Nayeri
Connecting the realms, Martine sells crepes in the summer to members of the communes, who venture down from their fields and plateaux for this staple of French cuisine.
From BBC ● Dec. 16, 2023
Currently, it expects wage growth to plateaux around 3.9% late next year and into 2024.
From Reuters ● Nov. 16, 2022
From arboreal foothills, we climbed up to bare, boulder-strewn plateaux, before plunging back down to shaded valleys below.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 28, 2020
But with the new edition opening to just $21.5 million — less than either of the previous sequels, in real or inflated dollars — it will have trouble reaching those plateaux.
From Time ● Apr. 8, 2012
These birds—in Spanish Corteza—nest on the bare pasturages of the upper marisma, and also on the high central plateaux of Spain, in Castile, La Mancha, &c., a very different region.
From Wild Spain (Espa?a agreste) Records of Sport with Rifle, Rod, and Gun, Natural History Exploration by Buck, Walter J.
It made sense for his family at the time because his wife’s business was growing, while he felt his career in content marketing had plateaued.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 23, 2026
By then, revenue had plateaued and Clancy and his co-hosts admitted they would rather try making money from other projects.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 23, 2026
The donors who’ve been forking it over are questioning whether Cornyn has plateaued.
From Slate ● Mar. 2, 2026
Electricity production growth slowed in the 1970s and essentially plateaued in the 1990s.
From Barron's ● Feb. 8, 2026
My stock plummeted, and by high school, it plateaued.
From "Americanized" by Sara Saedi
The argument wasn’t anything new, and it certainly wasn’t influenced by plateauing sales or consumer complaints.
From Salon ● Jun. 14, 2026
With repetition, they got faster until plateauing, which he thinks was when the sorting task became automated.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
We see North America demand plateauing, but global demand for refined products continuing to rise 1-2% a year.
From Barron's ● Jan. 10, 2026
Ember is confident that emissions from using fossil fuels to generate electricity are now plateauing and could begin a permanent decline in a few years.
From BBC ● Nov. 12, 2025
At the same time, demand for electric vehicles is plateauing as the market gets saturated, Brauer said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 5, 2025
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.
