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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 northwestern part of Motte Rimrock Reserve, a biological field station on a rocky plateau managed by UC Riverside, also falls in an evacuation warning zone.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 25, 2026

The field has more than 3 trillion cubic feet of gas initially in place, with production expected to reach a plateau of 500 million standard cubic feet a day.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 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

Once the capital of the Iron Age kingdom of Lydia, Sardis occupied a strategic location between the Mediterranean and the Anatolian plateau.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 25, 2026

They met in center plateau for the final assault.

From "The Princess Bride" by William Goldman

The flash flood, which began about 2:30 pm on Saturday, was caused by rainfall on the Kaibab Plateau, it said.

From Barron's ● Aug. 30, 2026

On the Tibetan Plateau, dogs and humans even developed similar genetic solutions to life at high elevations.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 10, 2026

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

Goblin guards posted along the battlements were watching the Plateau of Drume with telescopic distance-eyes.

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

“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

As we passed the high plateaus and rounded the last cliffside into the open country, we spied a massive caravan—three hundred camels deep—a moving village riding toward us.

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

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

After the gloom of the night a brilliant morning broke forth, brilliant as it is only seen on these high plateaux.

From Empires and Emperors of Russia, China, Korea, and Japan Notes and Recollections by Monsignor Count Vay de Vaya and Luskod by P?ter Vay

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

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

His wife, Cheryl Poulsen, says she feels the disease has plateaued since he began using Sunny.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 18, 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

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

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

On a development curve of Lando, we are not plateauing yet.

From BBC ● Mar. 12, 2025

Related Words

• elevation
• highland
• plain