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prairie
[ prair-ee ]
/ ˈprɛər i /
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noun
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.Compare pampas, savanna, steppe.
a tract of grassland; meadow.
(in Florida) a low, sandy tract of grassland often covered with water.
Southern U.S. wet grassland; marsh.
(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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Origin of prairie
1675–85; <French: meadow <Vulgar Latin *prātāria, equivalent to Latin prāt(um) meadow + -āria, feminine of -ārius-ary
OTHER WORDS FROM prairie
prai·rie·like, adjectiveWords nearby prairie
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use prairie in a sentence
British Dictionary definitions for prairie
prairie
/ (ˈprɛərɪ) /
noun
Word Origin for prairie
C18: from French, from Old French praierie, from Latin prātum meadow
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 prairie
prairie
[ prâr′ē ]
An extensive area of flat or rolling grassland, especially the large plain of central North America.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
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