prairie

American  

[prair-ee] / ˈprɛər i /

noun

prairies plural

1. an extensive, level or slightly undulating, mostly treeless tract of land in the Mississippi valley, characterized by a highly fertile soil and originally covered with coarse grasses, and merging into drier plateaus in the west.

2. a tract of grassland; meadow.

3. (in Florida) a low, sandy tract of grassland often covered with water.

4. Southern U.S. wet grassland; marsh.

5. (initial capital letter) a steam locomotive having a two-wheeled front truck, six driving wheels, and a two-wheeled rear truck.

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prairie British  

/ ˈprɛərɪ /

noun

1. (often plural) a treeless grassy plain of the central US and S Canada Compare pampas steppe savanna

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prairie Scientific  

/ prâr′ē /

1. An extensive area of flat or rolling grassland, especially the large plain of central North America.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• prairielike
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• prairies
  plural

Etymology

Origin of prairie

1675–85; < French: meadow < Vulgar Latin *prātāria, equivalent to Latin prāt ( um ) meadow + -āria, feminine of -ārius -ary

Explanation

A prairie is a plain of grassy land without many trees. If you're raising cattle, find some prairie land to let them roam around on. Prairie means grassland, and comes from the French word for "meadow." While we might describe a single meadow, we usually use prairie to describe a type of countryside. In the United States, the natural state of the land between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains is prairie, which is why there's so much farming there.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

prairie prairies

Only today’s would-be homesteaders look to TikTok stars like Ballerina Farm’s Hannah Neeleman for inspiration or don Gunne Sax-style prairie dresses and call the look cottagecore.

From Salon ● Jul. 11, 2026

Throughout our history, major domestic quarrels have erupted over economics: the prairie rebellion of the 1890s, the Progressive era, the New Deal.

From Salon ● Jul. 5, 2026

Partly raised in Nebraska, Willa Cather emerged as the great artist of hardscrabble prairie life.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026

Moore tried a bison, that shaggy American prairie symbol.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 6, 2026

In the nineteenth century, bison were extinguished from the prairie, but in recent years they have been reintroduced by conservationists.

From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann

Refinery issues in the Great Lakes and the prairies of Canada fed into significant price increases for those two areas, including the states of Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Illinois and Wisconsin.

From MarketWatch ● May 1, 2026

The Florida Everglades are a unique environmental region comprising marshes, prairies, forests, mangroves and estuaries.

From BBC ● Jun. 23, 2025

The uprooting of prairies across the Great Plains and the Dust Bowl could not have occurred without the massive settler movement triggered by the Homestead Act of 1862.

From Salon ● Jun. 21, 2025

On the prairies of north central Montana, farmers must sometimes contend with a worrisome visitor: the grizzly bear.

From Science Magazine ● Apr. 11, 2024

The view was of hills and ridges toward the east, and prairies all around.

From "In the Footsteps of Crazy Horse" by Joseph Marshall III

Related Words

• meadow
• pasture
• plain
• savanna
• steppe