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• plateau
  plateau

  noun

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

  noun

  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

American  

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

noun

• plateaus,
  plural
• plateaux
  plural

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.

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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 wide mainly level area of elevated land

2. a relatively long period of stability; levelling off

   the rising prices reached a plateau

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verb

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

Plateau ² 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)

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plateau Scientific  

/ plă-tō′ /

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

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• plateaus
  plural
• plateaux
  plural

Etymology

Origin of plateau

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

Explanation

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."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

plateau Plateau plateaus plateaux plateaued plateauing

The traditional pharmaceutical market sets its price of a drug upon launch and year by year that price moves lower until it reaches a plateau when generic versions are introduced.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026

Together, these pathways formed a broad underground network beneath the growing plateau.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 18, 2026

Jacob had a meteoric climb from being an unranked university student in 2024 to the world's top 50 a year later - but he has recently hit a plateau.

From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026

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

To Farmer, it wasn’t unlike the fate of Haitian peasants who left the central plateau and migrated to the slums of Port-au-Prince.

From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French

The team studied a marine sediment core collected from International Ocean Discovery Program Site U1475 on the Agulhas Plateau, about 500 kilometers south of South Africa.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 6, 2026

He thinks that companies have skipped to the next phase of the cycle, the Slope of Enlightenment, which is the step that occurs before the Plateau of Productivity.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026

To investigate the phenomenon, the team studied 50 rivers across the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the world's largest high-altitude cryosphere outside the polar regions.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 20, 2026

"India could absolutely become a major agave economy. The Deccan Plateau alone has millions of acres suitable for cultivation. We could theoretically rival Mexico if there's long-term vision and patience."

From BBC ● Jun. 11, 2026

The Norwegians would parachute onto the Hardanger Plateau and find Jens Poulsson and his team—they were still camped somewhere on the plateau.

From "Bomb" by Steve Sheinkin

Instead of varying smoothly, the Hall voltage increases in distinct steps and plateaus.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 19, 2026

Multiple employees were perfecting the already-perfect plateaus of bell peppers and apples in the produce section.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 25, 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

“Free cash flow per share grows even as revenue plateaus or declines slightly. The companies that execute this transition well are going to emerge as leaner, more profitable versions of themselves,” he says.

From MarketWatch ● Feb. 25, 2026

There was nothing but the wide expanse of flat desert, which reached toward the edge of the horizon, where massive sandstone plateaus stood that were as faint and round as orange clouds.

From "Healer of the Water Monster" by Brian Young

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

As to the poets who made it into Dear World, there are predictable highs, plateaux and crescendi.

From The Guardian ● Apr. 12, 2013

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

It had no signature, and merely contained the name of a certain village on the fringe of the hills that cut off the coast levels from the island plateaux.

From Long Odds by Harold Bindloss

The stock rallied from late 2023 to early 2025, but has plateaued since because investors are worried about how long the momentum could last.

From Barron's ● Jun. 10, 2026

And that has happened even as Tesla's car production numbers have plateaued.

From BBC ● Jun. 8, 2026

But revenue plateaued, and the convention pipeline was a little softer, he said.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 1, 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

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

At the same time, American production growth—a key shock absorber for high prices after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine—appears to be plateauing.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 3, 2026

With pandemic-era stimulus initiatives long forgotten, home prices plateauing, and investor portfolios pointing down, consumer sentiment has little reason to improve.

From Barron's ● Apr. 2, 2026

"There is also mounting evidence that the country's emissions are plateauing, with this year's levels expected to be lower than in 2024," said Li Shuo.

From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2025

The elimination of the credits is expected to further stunt EV sales that have already slowed amid plateauing interest in California and steep auto tariffs.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2025

Related Words

• elevation
• highland
• plain