plateau
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.
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.
to cause to remain at a stable level, especially to prevent from rising or progressing: Rising inflation plateaued sales income.
Origin of plateau
1Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use plateau in a sentence
It was still sixty miles to the San Juan, over a series of savage sandstone plateaux, said to be entirely destitute of water.
Overland | John William De ForestBarley will not grow even on the most elevated plateaux, on account of the constant and excessive heat.
The Desert World | Arthur ManginIt swept over the entire South African plateaux and destroyed great numbers of sheep and cattle.
Origin of the Anglo-Boer War Revealed (2nd ed.) | C. H. ThomasIt is evident, as before intimated, that the river descends from its summit in plateaux.
Summary Narrative of an Exploratory Expedition to the Sources of the Mississippi River, in 1820 | Henry Rowe SchoolcraftThe annexed diagram of these plateaux, extending to the Pakagama summit, will impress these deductions on the eye.
Summary Narrative of an Exploratory Expedition to the Sources of the Mississippi River, in 1820 | Henry Rowe Schoolcraft
British Dictionary definitions for plateau (1 of 2)
/ (ˈplætəʊ) /
a wide mainly level area of elevated land
a relatively long period of stability; levelling off: the rising prices reached a plateau
to remain at a stable level for a relatively long period
Origin of plateau
1British Dictionary definitions for Plateau (2 of 2)
/ (ˈplætəʊ) /
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)
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for plateau
[ plă-tō′ ]
An elevated, comparatively level expanse of land. Plateaus make up about 45 percent of the Earth's land surface.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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